If approved by regulators, customers will be able to request LEDs if they are installing new streetlights, or if existing fixtures fail. Mercury vapor lights, will no longer be used for new lighting and will be phased out over time.
LEDs, traditionally used in christmas tree lights or basketball scoreboards, use a different technology from standard incandescent light bulbs. They don’t have a filament that can burn out and don’t get especially hot. LEDs derive their light from the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material.
Compared with mercury vapor bulbs, LED lights produce a comparable amount of light with a 66% savings in energy use or watts. In addition, LEDs are long-lasting. A LED luminaire has a potential lifespan of more than 25 years, compared to 5-7 years for traditional street lamp bulbs, the company said.
Mary Powell, president and CEO of Green Mountain Power, said: “Offering this new lighting technology to our customers furthers Green Mountain Power’s commitment to being an environmentally responsible company.
”By promoting energy efficient technology we help customers to reduce the amount of energy they use and we also protect Vermont night sky. The type of LED lights being used are full cut off, meaning no light will shine above the fixture.”
A 2008 report by the McKinsey & Company — a global management consulting firm — found that replacing commercial lighting with LEDs and compact fluorescent lights has the greatest potential to reduce greenhouse gases when compared with other options that use existing technology. The report found that converting those light sources could abate 240 megatons of carbon dioxide emissions in the US by 2030.
