LED Street Lighting 65 Percent More Efficient Than Traditional Lights

ALBANY — The New York State Public Service Commission (Commission), as part of its continuing work to reduce municipal energy consumption across the State, approved the sale of utility-owned street lights to the City of Oneonta in Otsego County. With the change in ownership, the City will now have the option to take control of street lighting and install their own state-of-the-art energy efficient lights to lower costs to taxpayers and protect the environment. The City of Oneonta will purchase 1,094 street lights and associated facilities from New York State Electric and Gas.

“Municipalities throughout the state have taken an active and commendable role in supporting New York’s clean energy goals, including work to develop renewable energy projects and install energy-efficient street lighting,” said Commission Chair John B. Rhodes. “Enabling local governments to lower municipal energy expenditures and reduce greenhouse gas emissions supports Governor Cuomo’s Green New Deal goal to reduce emissions 70 percent by 2030.”

In 2015 Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation amending the Public Service Law to establish procedures for the transfer of ownership of complete street lighting systems to municipalities or other government entities. With the change in ownership, municipalities take control of street lighting and can install state-of-the-art, energy efficient lights and new technologies to lower costs to taxpayers and protect the environment. Since that time, the Commission has approved the sale of over 45,500 street lights to 22 municipalities.

Approximately one million municipal street lights across the State may still be converted to more energy efficient technology. This number includes both utility- and customer-owned street lights. The latest energy efficiency lights, known as LED or light-emitting diodes, use significantly less energy than traditional street lighting. The adoption of LED-lighting can save municipalities up to 65 percent of their electricity costs for street lighting and contribute towards the State’s greenhouse gas emission goals.

For an average municipality, street lights may account for up to 40 percent of total local government electric energy consumption. LED-related energy savings can also contribute significantly to the State’s energy and environmental goals. In fact, if all of the State’s street lighting were converted to LED fixtures, the energy savings potential is estimated to be enough electricity for 75,000 average-sized houses. Given the opportunity for savings, municipalities across the State have been showing interest in either buying utility-owned street light facilities with the intention of converting to LED or working with utilities to convert utility-owned street lighting.

Today’s decision may be obtained by going to the Commission Documents section of the Commission’s Web site at www.dps.ny.gov and entering Case Number 19-E-0284 in the input box labeled "Search for Case/Matter Number". Many libraries offer free Internet access.

Commission documents may also be obtained from the Commission’s Files Office, 14th floor, Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12223 (518-474-2500). If you have difficulty understanding English, please call us at 1-800-342-3377 for free language assistance services regarding this press release.

New York State's Green New Deal

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's Green New Deal is the most climate change program in the nation and puts the State on a path to being entirely carbon-neutral across all sectors of the economy, including power generation, transportation, buildings, industry and agriculture. The Governor's program also establishes a goal to achieve a zero-carbon emissions electricity sector by 2040, faster than any state in the nation. The recently passed Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act mandates several of the Governor's ambitious Green New Deal clean energy targets: installing six gigawatts of distributed solar by 2025, three gigawatts of energy storage by 2030, and at least nine gigawatts of offshore wind by 2035. The CLCPA also calls for an orderly and just transition to clean energy, creating jobs while spurring a green economy. It builds on New York's unprecedented ramp-up of clean energy including a $2.9 billion investment in 46 large-scale renewable projects across the state, the creation of more than 150,000 jobs in New York's clean energy sector and 1,700% growth in the distributed solar sector since 2012. The CLCPA also directs New York State's agencies and authorities to work collaboratively with stakeholders to develop a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85% from 1990 levels by 2050, and to work toward a goal for disadvantage communities to receive 40% of the overall benefits of spending on clean energy and energy efficiency programs, projects or investments.

Reforming the Energy Vision

The CLCPA builds on Governor Cuomo's landmark Reforming the Energy Vision strategy to lead on climate change and grow New York's economy. REV is building a cleaner, more resilient and affordable energy system for all New Yorkers by stimulating investment in clean technologies like solar, wind, and energy efficiency. Already, REV has driven growth of nearly 1,700 percent in the statewide solar market, leveraged nearly $3.4 billion in private investments, improved energy affordability for 1.65 million low-income customers, and led to more than 150,000 jobs in manufacturing, engineering, and other clean tech sectors across New York State.

To learn more about REV, visit rev.ny.gov, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.