LED demonstration project on Makaiwa Street in Wai‘alae.

Island-wide LED Street Light Conversion Project set to begin

News Release from City and County of Honolulu, March 9, 2018

Island of O‘ahu – On Monday, March 12, city contractor Johnson Controls is scheduled to begin converting approximately 53,500 city-owned street lights to more energy efficient LED (light-emitting diode) lights. Once all of the street lights have been replaced, the city is expected to realize energy savings of approximately $5 million per year. The $36.7 million project is being financed by First Hawaiian Bank and is projected to pay for itself within a decade. The total cost of the project is $46.6 million, which includes the construction, financing, and the warranty and network services over a 10-year period.

“Transforming O‘ahu’s communities to become more sustainable, resilient and environmentally friendly is going to take a multi-faceted approach, and replacing all of our street lights to energy-saving LEDs is a big step forward in this process,” said Mayor Kirk Caldwell. “When this project is completed O‘ahu will use 60 percent less energy to power its street lights, which is equivalent to eliminating 14,400 tons of greenhouse gases each year.”

Work on the project will begin on the North Shore, the Leeward and Windward areas, and then progress towards Central O‘ahu, Pearl City and downtown Honolulu. The project is expected to be completed by December 2019 (see project map below). 

Typically, work will be done during the day from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Mondays through Fridays. However, there may be instances where work on heavily congested streets will be done at night or on weekends to minimize the impact to traffic.

New LEDs with a color temperature of 4000 Kelvin will be used on arterial streets, while residential areas and Waikīkī will have 3000 Kelvin LEDs with less blue light. Approximately 90 percent of the new LED street lights will have the 3000 Kelvin color temperature. The new lighting features modules that will allow each light to be controlled remotely through a wireless network, while also being monitored for performance.

For more information and project updates, please go to the project’s website: www.myoahustreetlight.com.

-PAU- 

Big Q: Do you favor the city’s $46.6 million project to convert all streetlights to LED?