Update: LED streetlights in Anchorage

Anchorage has added itself to the list of cities that are switching over to LED streetlights. New York City and Los Angeles currently have plans to make the change. An earlier blog post provides full details.

The City of Anchorage is replacing one fourth of its streetlights with LED bulbs. The 16,000 new streetlights should save the city about $360,000 per year, with an initial outlay of $2.2 million.

Anchorage is participating in a program known as the LED City program, which is also working with Raleigh, North Carolina; Toronto, Ontario; Tianjin, China; and Torraca, Italy.

LED streetlights in LA and NYC

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former President Bill Clinton recently announced a program to replace 140,000 street lights in Los Angeles with LED bulbs. The plan is funded in part by the Clinton Climate Initiative. They are also receiving funding for the $57 million project through a $14 million rebate from Department of Water and Power.

The project is estimated to save $48 million and 197,000 tons of carbon emissions over a seven year period. This is the equivalent to pulling 6,000 cars off the road, according to Clinton.

Clinton also claimed that if every major city undertook a similar project, enough power would be saved to shut down 2 1/2 coal-fired power plants.

New York City has announced a similar plan. They are testing new LED light poles in a small area of the city. If testing proves successful by fall 2009, they may replace all of the city's streetlights (300,000 in total) with LEDs.