Vermont towns turning to LED lights

LED lights, those darlings of environmentalists and the budget conscious, are hitting the streets.


The light-emitting diodes, which can use as much as 70 percent less energy as traditional lights, have been turning up regularly in car headlights, traffic signals, aviation lights and increasingly in home interior lighting.

 
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Now they're taking over street lighting in Vermont.


Waterbury is installing several dozen along Main and Stowe streets. They're in Winooski's city parking garage. A few have gone up in Burlington, and the city is toying with the idea of making LED streetlights far more widespread. Colchester has a Town Meeting Day ballot item that, if approved, would mean LED streetlights along all town roads.


Environmentalists love LED lights. They use so much less energy than traditional bulbs that their increased use could delay or even eliminate the need to build more electrical power plants, environmental experts and activists say. Many such plants spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which scientists agree would hasten and worsen global warming.


Budget cutters embrace LED, too. The more than five dozen LED street lights are expected to save Waterbury about $3,000 year, said Waterbury Community Planner Steve Lotspeich. Colchester, too, would see savings from the LED lights and take advantage of a grant to pay for the cost of installing the new lights, said Colchester Public Works Director Bryan Osborne.