The City of Launceston will soon boast the largest rollout of LED street lamps of any municipality in Tasmania.
In coming months the City of Launceston will begin replacing more than 4800 streetlights across the municipality.
The lights, which are nearing the end of their specified life, will be replaced with new energy efficient LED lights, saving an estimated 3848 tonnes of greenhouse gas over the life of the new lights.
The new lights are around 82 per cent more efficient than the existing streetlights and are designed to produce the same light output.
The shift to the new lights is part of a regional push, with the Meander Valley, George Town, Break O’Day, Northern Midlands and West Tamar Councils also participating in the replacement of a further 4300 globes across Northern Tasmania.
It’s estimated that the six councils will achieve combined savings of more than $16m over 20 years, once the transition to LED lights is complete.
Launceston will be the first Council to install the new lights with work expected to be complete by August.
Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten said the City of Launceston had set aside $2 million in the 2016-17 capital works budget to allow the works to be carried out.
“The move towards LED globes makes sense both economically and environmentally, and there will be clear benefits to the city’s residents over the life of the new globes,” Mayor van Zetten said.
“Launceston has a proud history as an innovative city, and this will continue with the largest roll- out of LED street lamps by a
single Council anywhere in the State.
“It takes less than five minutes to convert each street lamp, and we will be working to ensure there is minimal disruption to residents.
“That being said, we do ask people to be patient if they see crews out undertaking this work in the coming weeks.”
