City-wide LED street light replacement complete
The City of Calgary has completed a four-year project replacing 80,000 street lights across the city with new energy efficient LED bulbs a year and a half early, and on budget.
“The investment The City made with this technology achieves nearly 5 million a year in electricity cost savings. This savings will be reinvested in lifecycle maintenance of our street light infrastructure,” says Troy McLeod, Director of Roads. “Investing in our Critical Pole Program, ground fault failures and relays will improve our street light service. The LED replacement was the first step in improving our program without seeking additional funding.”
The LED technology used in this project focuses the light straight down, providing brighter and clearer illumination for pedestrians and motorists and prevents any light spillage upwards which allows Calgarians to see the night sky and stars much better. The space shuttle shared photos that show reduced light pollution contrasting the old High Pressure Sodium lights compared with the LED improvement during the conversion.
LED street lights not only offer the benefit of substantially reduced electricity usage but also reduced maintenance costs. In addition, the lighting temperatures are designed to exceed Canadian minimum standards. These lights provide a much softer light temperature which creates a more comfortable environment for residents.
At a total cost of $32 million to complete, The City of Calgary is expected to save approximately $5 million a year in electricity consumption.
Now that The City has completed the LED street light replacement, it will accelerate work to upgrade aging infrastructure like light poles and underground wires. The underground wires in some areas are well over 50 years old.
There are approximately 90,000 street lights in Calgary. The City is still looking into replacing approximately 10,000 street lights that are decorative in nature and require specialized fixtures when compared to the 80,000 luminaires in the original project.
Please visit, Calgary.ca/LED for more information about The City of Calgary’s LED street lighting program.
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