Friday, March 4, 2016
The Town of Oakville is shining a spotlight on its environmental leadership by upgrading streetlights to high-efficiency light emitting diodes (LEDs) beginning this month.
LED streetlights use less energy and last four times longer than existing high pressure sodium light bulbs. The new lighting system will reduce the town’s annual electricity consumption for streetlights by an estimated 40 to 50 per cent. A full conversion to LED fixtures will result in an estimated $1.3 million in annual hydro and maintenance savings.
“Upgrading to LED streetlights reflects Council’s commitment to environmental leadership and sustainability,” said Oakville Mayor Rob Burton. “It’s an exciting change that will result in significant energy and cost savings for the town.”
A total project budget of $12 million is included in the 2016-2017 capital budgets and is projected to be fully offset in ten years by the savings achieved through LED conversion.
Phase one of the project will include all town-owned streetlight fixtures except decorative streetlights. Work will be completed by El-Con Construction Inc., a subsidiary of Oakville Enterprises Corporation (OEC). Crews working from bucket trucks will park underneath each streetlight to swap out the fixtures, resulting in minimal disruption to residents.
The town expects to have a total of 16,200 town-owned streetlights converted to LEDs by 2017.
For more information visit the LED streetlight conversion program page.