Click the play button on the video window to the see the storyPHOENIX -- As the financial crisis hit bottom at the beginning of the year, an ABC15 Investigation found the government in Arizona was spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on night lights.
“It could be that the lights are on because no one has thought about turning them off,” said Dr. George Basile, energy expert with ASU’s Decision Theater.
Dr. Basile said that part of the reason we found so many lights on in government buildings is simply, habit.
And it showed in the electricity bills.
The November 2008 bill for Phoenix City Hall and two surrounding buildings came to almost $122,000 for just one month.
The ABC15 Investigation found the lights were left on overnight at 15 of the 24 government buildings we surveyed.
For more than a week, we checked each hour overnight.
We only counted buildings that were lit more than 50% and only after the cleaning crew left.
After our story aired, the governor ordered all the lights off.
Now, five months later, we went back out to check.
Last time, the Department of Education was lit up.
Now, the lights are off.
So are the County Auditorium, the Department of Land and the State Administration building --all off.
Last time, the Department of Revenue building was so lit up it could be seen for miles. Now, their lights are off.
Their November electricity bill was for more than $35,000. Five months later and their lights off, their April's electricity bill is just over $25,000. That is a savings of about $10,000.
It seems turning the lights off worked!!
“Energy has been cheap,” said Dr. Basile, “But now for a lot of businesses beyond payroll, it is their number one cost.”
So how much money could be saved with the flick of a switch?
We used the County Central Courthouse as an example.
The county told us the square footage and the type of bulbs they use.
Then, ASU's energy experts did the math.
If the lights are off from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. and all weekend, they could save about $18,500 per month.
Multiply that by 12 months and you get $222,000 for one building. Include all 15 buildings and the savings is substantial.
Now, if we could just make that happen at the governor's office, the city's Calvin Goode Building and the Attorney General's Office.
Our recent check found these buildings darker than last time, but still not completely out.
The governor’s spokesman, Paul Senseman, Director of Communications said that he is pleased the departments are “taking very seriously the account of every cent spent.”
Then he joked that the few lights left on in the governor’s tower may have been on because they were working at 3:00 in the morning.
