Lackawanna, N.Y. (WBEN) - We know them as street lights. But, to the experts they're known as 'roadway luminaires' and they're living up to the fancy technical name in Lackawanna where they're all new and LED.
The City of Lackawanna has partnered with National Grid to convert 2,300 streetlights to LEDs, which will deliver long-term cost and energy savings. The changeover represents the largest such LED streetlight conversion completed by National Grid in Erie County.
"We just finished the installation of those lights and now they're up and running," says National Grid Regional Director Ken Kujawa.
With the new installation comes some serious cost savings, says Kujawa. "We're projecting the city of Lackawanna is going to save about $25,000 a year on their annual street light bill." "The life that we should get out of these lights is considerably longer than what we would normally see with a high pressure sodium fixture," adds Kujawa.
For Lackawanna's conversion project, National Grid provided a $162,000 incentive, which represents 92percent of the $177,000 project cost. The out of pocket expence for the city was about $9,000 according to Kujawa.
Lackawanna Mayor Annette Iafallo says they're already getting compliments from residents who say the overall lighting is better and they're taking advantage of it.
"It's a bright light, it's an efficient light," said Kujawa.
