Gas Lamps Going Green

The period gas lanterns that give so much charm to our neighborhood are now being fitted with automatic igniters that will cause them to go on only in the evenings at nightfall rather than flickering wastefully all day.

The city will save approximately $140,000 a year in fuel costs for the 2,800 lamps which are spread throughout Back Bay, Beacon Hill, North End and Charlestown.

It is costing $450,000 to save the $140,000 a year but city officials believe it is well worth the expenditure – and besides – the city got that money in the form of a grant.

We thank the state’s Department of Energy Resources for making that grant.

Period street lighting of this type gives our neighborhood and all the others an ambiance and panache quite unlike any other.

Gas lantern lighting has been a part of these neighborhoods since first introduced in the late 1820’s.

What is old no longer has to be wasteful.

 

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