Energy efficient street lights coming to Calgary

Residents offive Calgary communities will likely notice a difference in the lighting along their streets soon.

The City of Calgary has started toreplacethe existing high-pressure sodium (HPS) street lights with new, energy efficient fixtures.

The switchover is already underway in Altadore. Douglasdale, Marlborough, Tuxedo Parkand Brentwood are the other communities in the first phase of this initiative to bring in LEDlamps.

This is the first step in the citys larger vision of providing Calgarians with smart, sustainableand cost-effective infrastructure, said Barry Poon, acting director of roads, in a statement.

The city estimatesLED fixtures will reduce electricity consumption for street lights by up to 55 per cent.

The LED technology will not only reduce electricity use and lower maintenance costs, but will also provide better quality lighting for our communities and roadways, added Poon.

The cityplans to install 2,500 new energy-efficient LED streetlights this summer in the five communities.

Eventually, the city wants to retrofit approximately 80,000 fixtures across Calgary.