Palo Alto

Have you noticed that the lighting around the Civic Center is a different color, and seems brighter? That's because the City is busy replacing 600 of its of its "high pressure sodium (HPS) street lights with better quality, longer lasting and more efficient Light Emitting Diode (LED) light fixtures as the first step in replacing all City-owned street lights," according to the City of Palo Alto.

The project is funded with $450,000 from the Federal Stimulus Grant. Some may argue that there were many other projects that could have used this money, so why did the city spend it on light bulbs (especially light bulbs that cost $542 instead of $78 for the old bulbs)?

One reason is the savings that the City expects to save in the coming years. The amount should be about $30,000 annually. This means in 15 years the change over will break even with the amount of funds invested. Energy cost savings is not the only factor, however. The City expects the savings will come from less maintenance too. The bulbs are expected to last 10 times longer than the previous bulbs. This reduces the break even point to about 11 years, according to the City.

Another important factor is the City's effort to become more environmentally friendly as these new bulbs emit less greenhouse gases. When all the bulbs are changed city-wide, it is expected to equal "nearly 650 metric tons of greenhouse gases per year, " according to City estimates. Eventually all of the street lights both in the downtown, and in residential neighborhoods will receive this change over.

Source:
http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/civica/press/display.asp?layout=1&Entry=645