LED lighting project
The light fantastic
To reduce its carbon footprint, the City is installing new energy-efficient LED street and park lighting. This is the first project of its kind in Australia.
The City will replace about 6,500 street and park lights with LEDs over the next 3 years. LED lights use half the electricity of conventional bulbs and produce half the carbon pollution of conventional lights.
The $7 million project is expected to save the City nearly $800,000 a year in electricity bills and maintenance costs due to the longer lifespan of LEDs.
Before the roll-out, 18-month trials were conducted in Circular Quay, George Street, Kings Cross and Martin Place.
New York, London and Hong Kong joined Sydney in another LED trial arranged by international environment collective the Climate Group.
More than 90 per cent of people said they found the new lights appealing and three quarters said the LEDs improved visibility.
Public lighting
Public lighting accounts for one-third of the City’s annual electricity bill and a large part of its greenhouse gas emissions. The City is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent and installing LEDs is a major step towards reaching this goal.
One of the largest users of street lighting, the local area has 22,000 public lights installed. Ausgrid (formerly Energy Australia) maintains 13,500 lights and the City looks after 8,500.
Sydney’s public lighting uses 13,100 megawatt hours a year, producing 14,017 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
Contacts
City of Sydney
02 9265 9333council@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
Last updated: Friday, 24 May 2013