The waste of money and energy should end soon, with work scheduled for the coming weeks.
A grotesque situation that has lasted for almost a year and a half. In the United States, a public high school in the state of Massachusetts is facing a situation that is as painful as it is paradoxical: constantly on, the 7,000 bulbs that make up the establishment’s lighting system literally cannot be turned off.
Originally, Minnechaug Regional High School’s lighting system was designed to conserve energy. However, since a breakdown of the computer system that controls this network, which occurred on August 24, 2021, the installation, on the contrary, has proven to be particularly expensive, at all levels.
Delays due to the Covid pandemic?
“The lighting system has gone into the default mode, Deputy Inspector Aaron Osborne sums up, quoted by NBC News. And this default position automatically keeps the lights on.” Property managers contacted the company that had installed the lighting…and learned that it had been resold several times since then.
After finally managing to contact the current manager of the company in question, the school’s leadership took steps to repair the lighting system, but as NBC News explains, these were then delayed by various setbacks. , administrative blockages and other delivery delays, apparently linked to the covid pandemic.
The situation would cost “several thousand dollars a month on average”
The unsustainable situation has therefore continued for almost a year and a half. “We are fully aware that this is costing taxpayers a significant amount of money, Deputy Inspector General Aaron Osborne acknowledges. And we are continuing to do everything we can to resolve this issue.”
“I would say the net impact is several thousand dollars a month on average,” says the administrator. However, this disturbing waste of public money and energy should come to an end in the coming weeks. After postponing its arrival once again in December 2022, the service provider responsible for repairing the lighting system should intervene in February.