According to the Department of Energy, the light-emitting diode (LED) is one of today’s most energy-efficient lighting technologies. LED bulbs last longer and are more durable than other lighting alternatives. In fact, today’s LED light bulbs are about seven times more energy efficient than conventional, incandescent lights and cut energy use by about 80%.

Potential LED Lighting Energy Savings

LED lighting is highly energy efficient. Residential LED bulbs use at least 75% less energy and last 25 times longer than traditional, incandescent lighting. Widespread use of LED lighting has the greatest potential impact on energy savings, and by 2027, it could save about 348 terawatt-hours for the United States. One terawatt-hour is equal to a sustained power of about 114 megawatts for a one year period. This widespread use of LED lighting will produce a total savings of more than $30 billion at today’s electricity prices—the equivalent annual electrical output of 44 large electric power plants!

West Richland’s LED Lighting Project

West Richland, Washington completed an LED upgrade to its entire street lighting system according to ECOReport. This upgrade is expected to reduce the system’s electric consumption by 61% and save the city $67,000 each year in energy costs.

“It makes good economic and business sense for the City to install new LED street lights and a wireless control system that reduces energy use by more than 60 percent while improving illumination, safety and addressing dark sky considerations. In addition to dramatic energy and maintenance savings, the control system will also enable us to move to a lower cost metered rate schedule that provides further cost reductions.” – Brent Gerry, Mayor, City of West Richland

According to Ameresco, West Richland’s LED installer, West Richland is “one of the first cities in the U.S. to use control-based energy metering to achieve a lower cost rate tariff,” which is expected to reduce the city’s average cost per kWh by about 26%. Furthermore, the new wireless control and monitoring system will allow the city to employ dimming strategies that further reduce energy consumption by 10% to 20%.

LED lighting is a great way to cut energy costs this year! For more information about LED light bulbs, visit energy.gov. For the full story on West Richland, Washington, visit theecoreport.com.

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