It seems LED street lights are the new thing in North America with a city near Detroit replacing all the bulbs in it’s street lights with LEDs. The move comes after a town in several other towns have also replaced their street light bulbs with LEDs.

It is said that the move to LEDs will save the local council $100,000 a year, so in four years time, the investment will have paid for itself. LEDs are supposed to provide the same amount of light as conventional street light bulbs, however they have an average life-span of 10 years. This compares to a conventional bulb’s life span of just 2 years.

LEDs are also said to cut carbon emissions and it is estimated that the light bulb changeover produces the same carbon emission cutting as taking 400 cars off the road.

Around a fifth of the US’s total energy production goes towards street lighting therefore using LEDs is a good way to reduce this figure. According to the US Department for Energy, if LEDs became the norm for street lighting the amount of energy spent on lighting the streets would be halved.

Over in Toronto, they are also replacing street light bulbs with LEDs. Toronto officials reckon that the changeover will save $6 million in electricity costs and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 18,000 tonnes a year.

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