LED lights could save money and energy
Posted on Thursday 24th January 2019
Street lights will be on for an extra two hours every night under a proposal by Newport City Council to introduce highly efficient LED lights across the city.
The scheme will also save money and help the council to reduce its energy usage and overall carbon emissions by 6.5 per cent a year, a major step towards being carbon neutral by 2030.
Councillor Roger Jeavons, the council’s cabinet member for Streetscene, is considering a report on the LED proposals which is due to go out to members for consultation.
In recent years if a street light was beyond repair the council has replaced it with an LED light and so far 3,262 of its 18,519 street lamps have been converted.
Following a comprehensive internal report on street lighting, the costs of operating the council’s stock showed that there is a strong business case for making the switch especially as electricity costs are due to rise in the future and that carbon emissions must be reduced.
Last year it cost £993,960 to operate the city’s street lights, signs, signals and bollards. After the first year of completion the move to LEDs could see an electricity bill saving of more than £500,000 per year.
The scheme has also been identified as complying with the council’s corporate plan objective to promote economic growth and regeneration whilst protecting the environment.
And because of the savings and the efficiency of LEDs the street lights which were turned off at 10pm could now be left on until midnight.