L.A. Replaces Thousands of Street Lights with LEDs

The city of Los Angeles has replaced thousands of streetlight fixtures with LED blubs. The project, which was four years in the making, was officially completed earlier this month -- slashing carbon emissions by 47,583 metric tons.

The $57 million change-over has already resulted in $7 million in electricity bill savings, and is anticipated to save $10 million a year in energy and maintenance expenses. The city borrowed money from the L.A. Department of Water and Power to finance the project and will repay the utility through electricity bill savings.

The program was a partnership between the city and the Clinton Climate Initiative. Roughly 140,000 traditional streetlights were replaced with environmentally friendly LED lights -- making it the largest streetlight retrofit undertaken by a city to date. Los Angeles hired BetaLED, a Wisconsin-based company, to carry out the retrofit program.

With the street light installations completed, incoming Mayor Eric Garcetti will oversee the conversion of 60,000 to 70,000 decorative fixtures.