The City of Berkeley will be looking brighter, and lighter some carbon emission pounds, come January. The plan is to replace the old, yellow-hued sodium streetlights with bright, energy efficient LED lights. The 8,000 streetlights add up to a lot of energy used by the city, and cost savings on the energy bill are expected to more than pay for interest on the loan to buy them. The chunk of energy saved also goes towards meeting goals set in Berkeley’s Climate Action Plan. With this switch, 6.5% of the greenhouse gasses generated by the City owned and operated activities would be cut. There’s other benefits, too – with brighter streetlights, public safety will get a boost, which could lead to more pedestrian or bike trips instead of car trips. Get the full scoop over at Berkeleyside.
[Photo by Jeremy Brooks on Flickr]
