The City of Nanaimo will consider switching bulbs to LED fixtures in more than 4,000 street lamps across the community.
An engineering consulting firm has been hired to come up with a business case to swap out bulbs.
LED lights are more expensive than lights the city currently uses, but Scott Pamminger, city manager of infrastructure planning and energy, said there’s better light quality and performance, the city can reduce its energy by about half, and LED lights last a lot longer, meaning less maintenance.
The city has plugged in LED lights in areas of the city, like Museum Way, near the Port Theatre and Derby Place. Other municipalities are also exploring making the conversation, or are in the process of doing it, including Burnaby, Surrey, Vancouver, Duncan and North Cowichan, according to Annalisa Fipke, city transportation engineer and project manager.
As a whole society is trying to become greener, said Fipke.
“Obviously for the city we want to be exploring cutting energy costs and…being respectful to taxpayer money and kind of, saving money where we can,” she said.
The business case is looking at if a conversion to LED makes financial sense and is expected to go to council early next year. If approved there would be public engagement.
