West Hollywood is going all-in on LED.
The city announced Monday they will begin updating all streetlights in the city with the energy-efficient technology, which uses up to 40 percent less electricity and costs less to operate.
The retrofitting project will begin on the city’s east side and work its way west. They’re expecting to take less than an hour at each location, so parking and traffic disruption should be minimal.
More on this bright idea from the city:
The City of West Hollywood is dedicated to sustainability and preserving the environment. One of the City of West Hollywood’s core values is Respect for the Environment and the City has a strong record of developing and instituting progressive and forward-thinking environmental policies.
The City is currently engaging the community in its people-centered Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) — an effort called “WeHo Climate Action” — to champion local actions needed to meet the challenges of a changing climate. Although climate change is a global problem, the City recognizes that strategies to adapt to a changing climate are best enacted at the local level.
The plan will establish more aggressive greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, obtain feedback from those who are most impacted by climate change, empower the community to play an active role in creating a sustainable future, and support a vibrant and sustainable city for current and future generations. To find out more, visit www.weho.org/climateaction. For additional information about the City’s ongoing sustainability efforts, visit www.weho.org/gogreen.
For more information about the LED Retrofit project, please call City of West Hollywood Traffic Engineer Richard Garland, at (323) 848-6457 or rgarland@weho.org. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.
Great idea.
Disappointed to hear this. I lived in the Valley Village area when LA did this there. The streets were much darker and dangerous. With LED, the area right under the lights were brighter. But the spaces between the lights were much much darker. You can see this right now on Fountain on Weho’s eastside. Look at the side streets on the LA side and compare with the ones on the Weho side. Weho is much brighter. And its worse when one of the lights go out (LEDs last longer, but sometimes there are electrical issues that will cause the entire… Read more »
Why not solar lighting that needs no electricity??
I love the lights on Santa Monica so I am very much in favor of this!! It adds charm to the city and conserves energy!
Will the lights be adjusted so that they shine down on the sidewalks instead of up above the tree tops?
Perhaps this is the plan so that West Hollywood can be easily identified from Mars. With the light pollution currently on Sunset Strip, given plans for the remainder of installations it may be a sure bet. They could schedule trips on Virgin so that people can pay thousands of $$$$ to see and wave at Weho from outer space. Staff is on to it for the next great revenue stream.
Has anyone heard what Kelvin temperature the new LED street lights will be? Although I agree the energy saving and beneficial impact on the environment are extremely important, it is also true that many other cities have made the serious mistake of installing 4000K or 3000K LEDs where the bright-white (very blue) light is so extreme that it appears to be daylight coming through the windows all night long, interfering with sleep cycles and animal life. The murcury-vapor or sodium-vapor street lights in Weho are warm light and do not interfere with sleep cycles or animal life.
YES! There are plenty of replacements that will match the current rich lighting color and cheerful brightness. We just need to hold city staff to doing this properly. Note that Beverly Hills made the mistake you mention about the “used car lots” acid white lighting in their redo of Santa Monica Boulevard. After the embarassement fades (people responsible have moved on), they’ll be warming that up so it doesn’t look like an alleyway in an industrial park.
YES! We hope the city is selecting LED’s that are 2700K otherwise it will look like a used car lot!