
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 27, 1994                   TAG: 9403280134
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau|
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

COMPUTER HELPS MANAGE ENERGY USE AT TENNIS COURT

DUBLIN - When Milton Aust began working with energy management at Pulaski County High School, one of his first technological duels came with tennis players.

People who used the school's tennis courts in the evening tended to forget to turn off the lights when they left. So energy was being wasted while the lights burned all night.

Aust tried both mechanical and electric timers, allowing players to set how much time they wanted the lights to stay on.

Perhaps they underestimated the time needed and found themselves suddenly playing in the dark too often. Or maybe vandals just could not resist keeping the lights on. But, again, those timers tended to be set so the lights stayed on forever.

``And finally I just put it on the computer,'' Aust said, connecting it to a simple push-button - the most vandal-proof device he could think of - so that one push provided light for what the computer considered ample game time.

It also gave notice, with a flicker of light, when time was about up so the players could push the button again, if necessary. But someone even found a way around that. A rock was taped to the button, keeping it pushed down all the time.

``So, what I did, I designed up another logic circuit,'' Aust said. This one turned the lights off if the button was pushed continuously, and kept them off until the button was released.

So far, that one has been working.

by CNB