Improving efficiency in municipal street and public lighting.
Efficiency Vermont’s Municipal Street Lighting program is designed to help Vermont municipalities upgrade their older, less efficient lighting technologies in street and public spaces with energy-efficient light emitting diode (LED) lighting.
Street lighting can account for one-quarter of a municipality’s electrical bill. With LED lighting, municipalities can significantly reduce energy use, resulting in lower energy costs, and improve the nighttime environment in the community.
Now is an excellent time for municipalities to consider converting to LED street lighting and reap the following benefits:
- Reduced LED costs: LED street lighting technologies have vastly improved and have dropped significantly in cost.
- Financial incentives: Efficiency Vermont can offer financial incentives to help offset some of the costs associated with converting to LED lighting.
- LED tariffs: Many of Vermont's utilities now offer tariffs for LED street lighting that can result in financial savings to municipalities.
Efficiency Vermont encourages municipalities to evaluate their use of older, less efficient street and public space lighting, eliminate unnecessary lighting, and replace remaining lighting with LED lighting systems. Efficiency Vermont can provide guidance and technical assistance to help Vermont municipalities update their street lighting inventory, identify opportunities to eliminate unnecessary lighting, evaluate the relative costs and benefits of purchasing versus leasing lighting, and prepare a scope of work for converting fixtures to LEDs.
To help municipalities get started, Efficiency Vermont developed the step-by-step guide, Improving Efficiency in Municipal Street and Public Space Lighting (pdf 474 kb), and is planning workshops on how to implement a municipal street lighting project.
Municipalities and regional planning commissions can borrow high-quality light meters from Efficiency Vermont for 30 days. These meters help to measure lighting levels and ensure that current and planned lighting levels are appropriate for specific outdoor applications — a crucial step in identifying what street lights can be eliminated. If you are interested in borrowing a meter, contact Efficiency Vermont at email@example.com or 888-921-5990.