RESOLUTION TO PROMOTE THE USE OF ENERGY EFFICIENT SOLID-STATE LED STREET LIGHTING

WHEREAS, 1,055 US Mayors have signed The U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement, pledging their commitment to reduce their communities’ carbon dioxide emissions by 7 percent below 1990 level; and

WHEREAS, The U.S. Conference of Mayors has endorsed a national goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050; and

WHEREAS, the estimated 26.5 million streetlights in the U.S. consume as much electricity each year as 1.9 million households, and generate greenhouse gas emissions equal to that produced by 2.6 million cars; and

WHEREAS, street lighting expenses represent a major part of on-going operating costs for cities across the US, for many cities it is the single largest power utility bill received, and in some cases the single largest recurring cost to the city’s general fund; and

WHEREAS, every city in the U.S. has seen reductions in general fund revenue as a consequence of the current economic recession; and

WHEREAS, nearly 80 percent of streetlights in the U.S. are an average age of 25 years old or more and have reached the end of their useful life, making a near term system replacement inevitable; and

WHEREAS, a number of U.S. cities are faced with the choice of turning off streetlights due to the high cost of maintaining their existing, older streetlights, or reduce funding to other city services; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Energy has established the Municipal Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium to assist cities and other owners in the evaluation and decision making process surrounding the adoption of light emitting diode (LED) street lights, providing support tools and training; and

WHEREAS, numerous cities across the U.S. have successfully deployed over 100,000 LED street lights, experiencing additional public safety benefits due to improved visibility provided by this light source; many cities have also experienced dramatic reductions in the cost associated with operating and maintaining lighting systems by 50 percent because LED lamp sources are proven to have lifetimes three (3) or more times as long as the life of incumbent lighting technologies; and

WHEREAS, the City of Los Angeles has installed 80,000 LED streetlights since 2009 as part of a comprehensive program to convert 140,000 street lights to LED that will reduce street lighting energy consumption by 60% and carbon emissions by at least 40,500 tons per year; and

WHEREAS, the City of Seattle has installed about 20,000 LED streetlights since 2009, saving nearly 7 million kilowatt-hours of electricity. Combined with the savings in maintenance costs, this amounted to over $1 million in annual savings that directly helps our general fund; and

WHEREAS, investing in cost-effective energy efficient LED street lighting can create local jobs, while reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that The United States Conference of Mayors endorses the use of solid-state LED streetlight luminaires for lighting public streets and rights-of-way where appropriate;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The Conference of Mayors endorses the U.S. Department of Energy Municipal Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium for educating our members on the appropriate use and application of LED streetlights; and calls on our members to adopt LED street lights for lighting public streets wherever practical. Practical adoption methods might include:

• Standard lighting material for new projects such as public works projects;

• Standard lighting replacements of existing failed units during routine maintenance;

• Large-scale adoption through LED streetlight conversion programs, such as those being implemented in Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, Detroit, Austin, San Francisco and on the highway interchanges in the State of California.