Barrie city council has approved a lightbulb change that will save the city millions of dollars.
Lighting Barrie’s 10,000 pressure sodium streetlights is the city’s biggest electrical bill.
“The city spends more than $2 million a year on power for streetlights,” said Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman.
The city expects to see huge savings by switching to LED bulbs.
“We anticipate with maintenance savings we’ll be saving over a million dollars a year,” said Barrie’s Manager of Energy Barry Thompson. “Our 10 year projection taking into account inflation is about $11.3 million we expect to save.”
Light emitting diodes, or LEDs, are flat in comparison to the rounded sodium bulbs, last longer, and emit a whiter light that appears brighter to many people.
The city installed LEDs on Edgewater Drive in Barrie almost 5 years ago to test the new technology, and officials say they haven’t had a complaint or a service call since installing the new bulbs.
“They're quite effective,” said Edgewater Drive resident Giselle Winton-Sarvis. “They give us sufficient light on the street. Anything that Barrie can do to save money is fantastic.”
Changing the bulbs will cost the city about $5 million, but the province of Ontario has offered a $1.1 million incentive.
“We really got a triple win here,” said Lehman. “We're going to get an incentive, we have lower maintenance costs because the bulbs last longer, and most of all that really big power bill is going to come down.”
The city plans to start the swap by early summer, and expect to be done before 2016.
