Representatives from PG&E were on hand at the March 7, 2011, City Council meeting with a big rebate check in recognition of the City of Foster City’s efforts to save energy. The City earned the $33,825 rebate by installing 260 Light Emitting Diode (LED) public street lights north of Highway 92 and along Metro Center Boulevard between Foster City Boulevard and Vintage Park Boulevard in Foster City.

The City replaced 260 traditional high pressure sodium streetlights with LED technology. The LED lamps provide improved night visibility due to higher color rendering and light uniformity. The technology has the capacity to include programmable controls at a future date.

The greatest benefit of LED lamps, however, is their smaller environmental footprint. The LED lamps have a significantly longer lifespan (20 years rather than 5 years for the traditional lamps), lower energy use (typically 50% lower), reduced maintenance costs, more recyclable parts and no mercury, lead or other known disposal hazards. PG&E projects that 142,000 kWh will be saved annually in energy through this retrofit, resulting in 81,448 pounds of avoided greenhouse gas emissions annually. This is equivalent to the annual emissions of 6 cars regularly driven on our local roads or the annual emissions generated for use in 22 homes.

The LED lamps are expected to be better for the budget as well. The City expects to save $17,600 annually on energy costs and $1,900 in avoided maintenance.

This pilot project was funded with $157,426 from the Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grant funding. The $33,825 rebate from PG&E was also re-invested in the project.

The City of Foster City has been successfully using LED lights in the City’s traffic signals since 1996. The results of the replacement of traditional streetlights with LED lamps, including cost savings and performance, will be monitored to evaluate the feasibility of citywide LED streetlight retrofits. Interested parties are encouraged to take a look at the newly installed lamps in the Vintage Park area.

For more information about the LED streetlight project, contact the Foster City Public Works Department at 650-286-3270.