Greentech Lead U.S: The Bay Area Climate
Collaborative (BACC) and GE Lighting have announced a project to
advance the energy-efficient street-lighting market. The Bay Area Next
Generation Streetlight Initiative aims to catalyze the upgrade of over 200,000
municipal streetlights in the region to advanced light-emitting diode (LED)
technology.
Through the Bay Area Next Generation Streetlight
Initiative, the BACC is developing educational resources and pooling Bay
Area-wide interest in LED streetlight conversions with a joint procurement
option to secure improved purchase and financing terms on the latest lighting
technology.
The initiative will serve as a business model that local
governments in the Bay Area and beyond can replicate to upgrade streetlights at
lower costs while engaging local workforce development. Over five years, the
upgrades will deliver up to $50 million in reduced costs for local governments,
over 100,000 metrics tons of CO2 avoidance, and many jobs.
“LED lighting has been identified as a top opportunity
for excellent financial, community and environmental benefits, and GE has
tremendous expertise on efficient lighting solutions,” said Rafael Reyes,
executive director of the Bay Area Climate Collaborative. “Through our
collaboration, we will help local governments save millions of dollars that can
be reinvested to strengthen the regional economy.”
GE Lighting will support the BACC’s outreach to local
governments on the benefits of LED streetlight technology and development of
tools and educational resources that facilitate lighting upgrades. GE also will
provide its expertise to inform the resources and strategies for the
initiative.
GE has invented every major lighting technology, including
the world’s first visible LED, which was created 50 years ago this month. GE is
currently working with the City of Las Vegas to convert more than 80 percent of
the City’s 50,000 streetlights to LED fixtures, which will provide $2.7 million
in annual savings.
The BACC is a public-private initiative of the Silicon
Valley Leadership Group, launched by regional civic and business leaders to
accelerate the Bay Area clean energy economy through high-impact,
market-oriented projects that can be replicated and scaled.
“Roadways are the new frontier of the solid-state
lighting revolution,” said Steve Briggs, GE Lighting’s global product general
manager. “We’re finding that once community leaders understand the LED value
proposition–over 50 percent energy savings and 10-plus years of life for
significant maintenance cost savings versus older incumbent technologies–a
shift to LED becomes a priority.