Per the City of Gaithersburg: As part of its strategic plan to enhance environmental sustainability and improve public safety, the City of Gaithersburg has developed a five year 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.

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.