SAN JOSE, CA, USA, February 21, 2014 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Morgan Hill is the latest San Francisco Bay Area city to progress a citywide streetlight retrofit project with support from the Bay Area Climate Collaborative Next Generation Streetlight Initiative

Morgan Hill's City Council voted on Wednesday to move forward with converting all city streetlights to LED. The vote approved a proposal from Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) for a turnkey program that would retrofit more than 2000 city-owned streetlights.

By upgrading its 2097 streetlights, Morgan Hill will save more than a million dollars in energy costs over the next ten years while significantly reducing maintenance requirements. The new lights will also enhance public safety due to improved light quality and reduce carbon pollution by 4.5 million pounds of CO2 over a decade. The project is expected to be completed by the end of the year and will be financed so the project will be repaid entirely through energy cost savings in approximately seven years.

"We are very pleased to be moving forward with a complete LED streetlight retrofit," said Steve Tate, Mayor of Morgan Hill. "The technical support we've received from the BACC has been instrumental in assisting our staff develop a proposal for City Council approval.”

The Bay Area Climate Collaborative has supported Morgan Hill’s deployment process through their Next Generation Streetlight Initiative, which provides leading-edge education, resources and guidance to local governments to accelerate the move over to LED streetlights. The initiative features one-on-one assistance to agencies interested in near-term deployment of LED streetlights by providing financial analyses, technical support, and in-depth strategy development assistance

Rafael Reyes, Executive Director of the Bay Area Climate Collaborative said, "This is the optimal time for cities to upgrade their street lights due to dramatic cost reductions, excellent incentives, and historically low finance rates. Cities can upgrade their lights with no upfront expense by using public or private financing options. We are thrilled to see Morgan Hill join cities across the Bay Area and nation-wide in switching to LED streetlights."

About the Bay Area Climate Collaborative
The Bay Area Climate Collaborative (BACC) is a public-private initiative accelerating the clean energy economy. Major partners include Bank of America, Pacific Gas & Electric, Environmental Defense Fund and local governments representing over 70 percent of the Bay Area population. BACC's Next Generation Streetlight Initiative provides leading-edge education, resources and guidance to local governments to accelerate the move to solid-state lighting (LED). Tools and resources that are available online, such as the Next Generation Streetlight Guide, provide details on benefits, financing strategies, deployment options and more for local governments. The overarching goal is to catalyze the conversion of 200,000 streetlights in the Bay Area to deliver $50 million in cost savings and cut 100,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions over 5 years. For more information, please visit: http://www.baclimate.org

Press release courtesy of Online PR Media: http://bit.ly/1cyDdTh

Alison Erlenbach
Bay Area Climate Collaborative
408-475-9059
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