Recently, the Clinton Foundation has announced the Outdoor Lighting Program of the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) is working with Los Angeles on the largest LED street lighting retrofit project over the next five years. In all, 140,000 LED streetlight fixtures will be installed throughout the city. That not only will improve L.A.'s lighting quality and reduce its electricity use, but also will help the city to save money in the process.

While typical streetlight lamps will last from four to six years, LED fixtures have a longer life span, estimated from 10 to 12 years. The foundation says that once this project is fully complete, L.A. will save electricity expended on street lighting in the city by a minimum of 40% and reduce carbon emissions by approximately 40,500 tons a year. Over a seven-year period, the city will save a total of $48 million and reduce carbon emissions by 197,000 tons. After seven years, the loan for the installation of the lights will have to be repaid, but the city will continue to save $10 million a year in energy costs. No word yet on which lucky vendor was chosen to provide the LED lights.

The city will still have to secure financing for this large project, which may be tricky right now, but the savings in energy costs will easily make up for the money invested in the installation. It's great to see the Clinton Foundation back making positive headlines now that Bill and Hillary are done being politically vetted. This project has the potential to show other cities the benefits of investing in retrofitting and with an organization like the Clinton Foundation involved, it's bound to be successful.