New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Thursday joined The Climate Group and the Central Park Conservancy to unveil lampposts in Central Park equipped with newly installed energy-efficient light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs in order to assess their ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve energy efficiency and provide quality lighting.

The installation is the first in The Climate Group’s global LightSavers program, an initiative designed to test and measure LED-technology in real-world, urban settings. The installations include 13 LED fixtures in Central Park from East 67th Street to East 72nd Street and 24 along the FDR Drive’s center median between 18th and 24th Streets.

The City is the first to launch a pilot project under the global LightSavers program, which was established by the City of Toronto in 2008 and is now led by The Climate Group. Future pilots are anticipated across other major cities in the U.S., China, Europe, Canada and Australia.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), a partner in this initiative through its GATEWAY program, estimates that LED lighting can reduce energy costs by as much as 60%. DOT will gather data on the lifespan, power consumption and lighting performance of nine LED products over a 12-month testing period. A full evaluation of these demonstrations as well as the global pilots will be available through The Climate Group following the testing period. The fixtures are being provided at no cost to the City.

The City of New York was the first large American city to use LED traffic signals, converting fixtures at nearly all of the more than 12,000 signalized intersections Citywide and producing an annual energy savings of 81%. It also began several projects to replace higher-wattage HPS and metal-halide units at several locations with more energy efficient HPS and LED fixtures. Examples include a pilot of 63-LED fixtures along Queens Boulevard and the testing of LED and induction luminaires on necklace lights of the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. Upcoming LED pilot projects include additional studies along the FDR Drive and the Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. More recently, DOT along with 11 City agencies released the Street Design Manual, a series of guidelines that sets new environmental standards while allowing design flexibility for street lighting applications, materials and installation.