Stimulus Watch

Keeping tabs on cities that are thinking about spending federal stimulus funds on LED street lighting.
See also: How to spend your stimulus funds on LED street lighting

Seattle
Source: Blog entry on seattlepi.com

Seattle will replace its 40,000 street lights with efficient LED fixtures, the city announced Monday. The city has been testing LED lights on Capitol Hill. It will pay for replacing lights citywide using part of its $6.1 million in federal stimulus Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant funding.

"We have tested LED streetlights in our neighborhoods and they work," City Councilman Bruce Harrell, chairman of the council's Energy and Technology Committee, said in a news release. Replacing all of the street lights will take four to six years, the city said.

Seattle; Arlington Heights, Illinois; Boise, Idaho
See article on environmentalleader.com

Chico, California
Source: ChicoER.com

Capital Services Director Tom Varga said the city is in the process of finishing a grant application for federal stimulus funds stipulated for energy. Varga said the city stands to gain $832,000 through an allocation formula and plans to use its first funds to convert city street lights to LED lights.

Varga said the technology is new, and the city would try a demonstration project first, perhaps converting lights on one block so they could be compared to the current lights.

"The numbers work out but it's a different quality of light," he said. "We want to see how it compares." The demonstration project could happen in late summer.

Wichita, Kansas
Source: Wichita Eagle

Wichita council wrestles with taking stimulus money:
When Vice Mayor Jim Skelton heard a proposal to replace all 876 light fixtures in city-owned parking garages with more efficient LED lights for just over $1 million, he balked.

"This seems like throwing a heck of a lot of money at that specific thing, and where in the heck else can we use $1.1 million dollars right now?" he fumed.