Nashville to go green with new streetlight upgrades
Nashvillians will see their roads and sidewalks in a new light thanks to sweeping modernization plans for the city's streetlights.
Nashville's council on Tuesday approved a 10-year agreement between Nashville Electric Service and the Nashville Department of Transportation to replace more than 55,000 streetlights with new, energy-efficient smart LED fixtures.
The swap will save the city an estimated $20 million in energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 36,000 metric tons over the next decade, according to Nashville Mayor John Cooper's office.
“This retrofit will allow our streetlight system to operate at its highest potential," Cooper said in a news release.
Currently, streetlight outages are flagged only by hubNashville complaints. The new technology will alert NES of outages in real time and provide greater control over lighting levels.
The LED bulbs can last up to 25 years, while the city's current bulbs have a roughly 5-year life.
The upgraded streetlights and the resulting anticipated increase in visibility are also a component of Nashville's Vision Zero initiative, which seeks to eliminate traffic-related deaths and severe injuries.
Over the next decade, NES will furnish, install and maintain the new streetlights under NDOT's oversight.
NES will retrofit all streetlights it owns, and will cover installation costs of new streetlights up to $250,000 per year. NES will bill Metro monthly for energy, service and facility charges.
The agreement has two optional 5-year renewals after the initial contract expires.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville to go green with new streetlight upgrades
