ENERGY & UTILITIES
Cumbria to spend £7.6m to take LED lighting county-wide
David Stevenson reports on a council energy management project. C
umbria County Council is to invest £7.6m in a county-wide project that will see
11,500 old high-wattage street lights replaced with more efficient LED systems over the next three years.
The energy-efficient LED lanterns are expected to make annual savings of £140,000 in year one, rising to £290,000 in year two and £430,000 in the final year of the programme, based on the local authority’s current energy spending of £2.1m.
As well as securing substantial savings on the council’s energy bills, the programme will help make Cumbria a greener county. It has been estimated that by using the LED lights, the council could cut CO2 emissions by nearly 1,700 tonnes a year by the programme’s end.
Cllr Keith Little, cabinet member for highways at Cumbria, said: “Just like households all over the country, we want to cut our energy bills and
there are ways of using modern technology to do that.
“The council is making the investment now to help us save money and conserve energy further down the line. As well as being much more energy efficient, the new LED lamps have a longer life span and need a lot less maintenance.”
Because the programme is focusing on energy savings, work will be targeted at replacing specific lamp types rather than general locations.
In 2014-15, the council is replacing the highest wattage units ranging from 135 watts to 400 watts, resulting in an energy saving of at least 200% on each unit replaced. About 2,500 lanterns will be replaced.
During 2015-16, about 5,500 remaining high wattage, orange, low pressure sodium lanterns
will be replaced. And in 2016-17, the local authority will substitute the 3,500 remaining high pressure sodium lanterns as well as the less efficient white light sources.
There will also be a rolling review of all the remaining 33,000 street lights in the county to see whether further energy efficiencies can be made.
Other local authorities currently taking advantage of LED lights include North East Lincolnshire Council, which started work in December last year. So far 12,000 lamps have been replaced as part of the £8.2m project, which will see 16,500 street lights upgraded. The City of Edinburgh Council has also announced plans to upgrade stair lights with LEDs in 14,000 tenement blocks as part of a £9m overhaul.
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46 | public sector executive Oct/Nov 14
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