City completes installation of 53,000 streetlights to energy-saving LEDs

Hawaii Energy presents $1.9 million rebate check

News release from City and County of Honolulu, October 1, 2019

HONOLULU – Today, Mayor Kirk Caldwell was joined by Honolulu City Councilman Brandon Elefante, members of his cabinet and officials with Hawai‘i Energy and Johnson Controls to announce the completion of the city’s LED Streetlight Conversion project. The public-private partnership with Johnson Controls and the city’s Department of Design and Construction began in late November 2017, and has now met the goal of replacing more than 53,000 city streetlights on O‘ahu with energy-efficient LEDs.

“This is an exciting celebration about what we’re doing to become a more resilient community,” said Mayor Caldwell. “LED lighting is more energy efficient, makes our streets safer, and this new infrastructure allows us to better direct light so we are not disturbing wildlife like shearwaters. This is an example of a public-private partnership that really works.”  

“These energy-saving LED lights display our commitment to resiliency and also provide great savings to our taxpayers,” added Councilman Elefante. “We’re saving costs with this program and it’s for our future.”

The estimated energy savings to city taxpayers from the new LED streetlights is approximately $5 million per year. The $46.6 million project utilized financing through Johnson Controls, so the city did not expend any upfront funds.

“Whether its LED lighting or solar, or energy efficiency retrofitting for air conditioning, whatever it may be, it’s creating jobs here and so we’re really appreciative,” said Johnson Controls Business Development Manager Brody McMurtry.  

During the press conference officials from Hawai‘i Energy presented Mayor Caldwell and Councilman Elefante a rebate check in the amount of $1.9 million, a direct result of the energy savings from the new LED streetlights.

“Hawai‘i Energy helps residents and businesses save money by saving energy, and this is one of the types of projects we are excited to highlight and reward the smart energy choices made by the City and County of Honolulu,” said Hawai‘i Energy Executive Director Brian Kealoha. “Most people don’t realize that energy efficiency can get us half-way to the CO2 reductions that we need to achieve to reach our climate goals, and this project will reduce 300,000 tons of CO2 over the life of the streetlights.”   

“There was a dialogue and listening to the community to make sure that we got the right technology to achieve our energy-saving goals,” said City Chief Resilience Officer Joshua Stanbro. “This project helps reduce our cost of living while also meeting the climate crisis head-on.”   

—PAU—

LINK:  View today’s press conference on Mayor Caldwell’s Facebook page

LINK:  Before and after photos of the LED streetlights