News

18 January 2010

 

City of Ann Arbor converting more streetlights to LEDs

The City of Ann Arbor in Michigan, USA is converting more city streetlights to LEDs over the next year after seeing at least $10,000 in energy savings in 2009 from using the lights, according to www.annarbor.com. The city’s Energy Programs Manager Andrew Brix estimates that the city also saved a further $40,000 in maintenance costs from having LED lights instead of incandescent streetlights.

The city owns about 2000 streetlights and expects to switch over a further 800 of them to LED lights by the end of 2011. The changeover is being funded by a $1.2m Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG), a program authorized by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) and administered by the US Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) but funded for the first time under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

There are about 7000 streetlights throughout the city, including about 5000 lights owned by Detroit-based utility firm DTE Energy but with energy costs paid by the city. The city energy office is evaluating whether it would save money in energy costs by purchasing those streetlights and converting them to LEDs.

In 2009, the energy office said it was able to save the city $153,000 in energy costs from streetlight and traffic light energy savings, as well as savings in natural gas costs from locking in prices earlier in the year.

Search: LEDs Streetlighting

Visit: www.eecbg.energy.gov

Visit: www.annarbor.com