The City of Los Angeles owns the second-largest street lighting system in the Nation behind New York City, with an estimated 5,000 miles of lighted streets.
 
An estimated total of 128,000 streetlights consume approximately 29 percent of the City’s total operating budget. The city is embarking on the nation’s largest street light conversion project, retrofitting its high-pressure sodium fixtures with LED streetlights from BetaLED.
 
The Green Streetlight Program includes replacing existing cobraheads with LEDway streetlights in local and residential neighborhoods.
 
The program, funded by a combination of energy rebates, the Street Lighting Assessment Fund and loans, will pay for itself throughout a seven-year period using savings from the retrofit. By the eighth year, the City will see an annual savings of $10 million.
 
“This project showcases how government can address environmental and economic challenges with creative problem-solving,” said Ed Ebrahimian, General Manager of the Bureau of Street Lighting.
 
In 2009, the City installed 8,000 LEDway streetlights and is expected to replace a total of 30,000 streetlights each year for the next four years. A portion of the streetlights feature the Roam® streetlight monitoring system to collect and report data such as energy usage and equipment performance for each fixture.
 
The system also has the capability to increase customer satisfaction by reducing equipment down time due to malfunction.
 
“The City of Los Angeles is leading by example and making a significant impact to fight the effects of climate change,”Ebrahimian said. “After an expansive test of LED luminaries from various manufacturers, BetaLED products met or exceeded the expected performance, cost savings, and sustainability goals of this project.”
 
The Green Streetlight Program is a collaborative effort between the Los Angeles Mayor’s office, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, the Clinton Climate Initiative and the City.
 
Facts about the Installation:

• LEDway streetlights reduce the City’s energy use by approximately 40 percent and lowers carbon emissions by an estimated 40,500 tons per year (or the equivalent of taking 6,700 cars off the road).

• The City is expected to save approximately $10 million annually from a combination of reduced energy use and lower maintenance costs.

• Patented NanoOptic™ product technology helps reduce light pollution by directing light into desired target areas without spilling onto neighboring properties or into the night sky.

• BetaLED products provide dramatically improved uniformity eliminating dark spots between fixtures creating a safer environment for vehicle and pedestrian traffic.