GCC switches to LED traffic lights to save £180,000 a year (From Stroud News and Journal)

GCC switches to LED traffic lights to save £180,000 a year

12:25pm Monday 16th November 2009 in News

Gloucestershire County Council is switching its traffic signal light bulbs to save money and carbon emissions.

The council is in the process of replacing its halogen lamps in traffic signals with Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs).

The move will reduce our carbon emissions by 600tonnes a year and it will save the council £180,000 per year when the project is complete.

LED’s are more environmentally friendly and cheaper to run as they use less energy and do not need replacing annually as the halogen lamps do.

At the moment the council spends about £190,000 towards electricity bills for its 291 traffic signals and an additional £50,000 towards lamp replacement costs annually.

Before starting the switch over, the council produced a model to look at the energy savings the project would produce and it showed a reduction in energy consumption of up to 74%.

The first phase of the switch over is now complete and 51 junctions across the county have been converted.

The council has replaced 600 lamps phasing out the oldest signal units as a priority.

In the second phase, to be carried out in 2010/11, the plan is to replace a further 2,000 bulbs.

Other accessories such as the pedestrian push buttons, pedestrian crossings and filter arrows will also be replaced as part of the scheme.

Cllr Stan Waddington, cabinet member for environment and highways, said: “This project is an excellent example of how this council is working hard to find new ways of reducing our carbon emissions.

“Climate change is something we all have to take seriously and we can only expect the public to do their bit if we do ours.

“Replacing the halogen lamps will significantly reduce our CO2 output, but it will also save us a lot of money in the long run, making it more efficient and better value for council taxpayers in Gloucestershire.”