Clean Energy

Success Stories

 

CERTs-Southeast: Clean Energy Resource Teams of SE Minnesota

   Traffic Light Upgrade Signals Huge Savings

As part of its comprehensive energy efficiency  program, the City of Rochester  replaced all green and  yellow traffic lights with LED lights (the red lights had been changed previously.)   The energy savings were tremendous.  The energy usage dropped from  1,000,000 kWh per year to 150,000 kWh --an 85% decrease in energy use.  It was such a large decrease, in fact,  that Rochester Public Utilities had to raise its charge rate on these lights to be able to cover their fixed costs of providing electrical service to them.  With the new rates, the City will realize about half of that savings.

In addition to energy efficiency, another advantage of LED lights  is their long life.  LED bulbs can operate for 100,000 hours of service, reducing the City's labor cost for replacing signal bulbs frequently.

List of Rochester traffic lights replaced with LED lights (includes about 6% spares) :