Carnation is first city to change to LED street lights
Published 11:04 am Friday, December 4, 2015
Carnation has been selected as the kickoff city for the Relight Washington program, a first-in-the-nation program that aims to bring LED street lights to all small cities across Washington.
LEDs are significantly more energy efficient than traditional high-pressure sodium bulbs in most streetlights and the switch will help cities trim utility costs.
The Carnation project, converting 119 street lights, will help Puget Sound Energy sort out the logistics of the effort, which will involve more than 6,000 lights in PSE’s seven counties.
The TIB plans to convert streetlights in 220 low-tax-base cities statewide.
Steve Gorcester, Executive Director of the Transportation Improvement Board, said they’ve launched small cities on an accelerated timeline in an effort to reap the greatest cost-savings.
“We are speeding up our grants process so cities and their ratepayers can start enjoying the cost savings.”
Puget Sound Energy and the Washington State Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) have been working since 2013 to initiate LED conversion throughout their small city customer base.
Six small cities got 2,000 street lights in 2013 under live testing by the TIB. The tests produced excellent cost and energy savings and spawned the statewide effort.
After LED conversion, the cities saw lower street light bills by about 30 percent each month. Now with the start of the statewide effort, Carnation’s $1,500 street light bill will drop by nearly $500 per month.
Immediately after the Carnation project, PSE will transition four Pierce County cities, Carbonado, Wilkeson, South Prairie and Roy in December, replacing another 160 lights. Buckley already received LED street lights as a demonstration project in 2013. All small cities in the PSE service area are scheduled for new street lights by the end of 2016.
The program supports Gov. Jay Inslee’s call for increased energy efficiency across state and local government as a way of curbing climate emissions and reducing energy costs. Inslee issued an executive order in 2014 that directed agencies to “upgrade the energy efficiency of all street lighting within the state.”
Puget Sound Energy serves 57 small cities in Island, King, Kittitas, Pierce, Skagit, Thurston, and Whatcom Counties. The TIB makes and manages state street and sidewalk grants. Revenue comes from three cents of the state fuel tax and driver’s license renewal fees.
