Update on Gaithersburg LED Street Light Conversion (3,750 Lights Will be Converted to Energy Efficient LED)

As part of its strategic plan to enhance environmental sustainability and improve public safety, the City of Gaithersburg is in the fifth and final year of a project to convert all City-owned street lights from the current high-pressure sodium (HPS) fixtures to the more energy efficient light emitting diode or (LED) fixtures. The City of Rockville’s streetlight conversion is expected to be complete sometime this year.

Per the City of Gaithersburg: LEDs require less maintenance and are more energy efficient, which contributes to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emission associated with their use. Streetlights are important to the safety of our City, and in addition to being more efficient, LEDs also create a more even spread of light, minimizing bright and dark spots. The light appears brighter and whiter, making it easier than traditional yellow looking HPS lights to identify what’s illuminated below. All the fixtures have a color temperature of no more than 3000k. This reduces the sharpness of the light and is deemed best practice by both the International Dark Sky Association and the American Medical Association. The new light fixture will be similar in style to the existing fixtures.

All these factors contributed to the City’s plan to convert the over 3,750 City-owned street lights to LEDs. To complete this project in an economical and efficient manner, the conversion was implemented in five phases over a five-year period, with 2024 being the final year. This project is budgeted in the Capital Improvement Fund. The City has received over $500,000 in rebates to date for the project, with an additional $133,000 in rebates expected at project completion. The City’s annual energy consumption has already seen a significant reduction through implementation of the LED conversion, with an annual cost savings of more than $100,000 per year.

Light flow, safety, equity and budget considerations were the factors considered that produced the conversion schedule below. To see when lights in your neighborhood will be converted check out this map.

Street lighting is the highest consumer of electricity in the City. Once all of the lights have been converted, the City anticipates a 60% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions associated with powering the streetlights, eliminating approximately 615 metric tons of emissions annually.