The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced today that Seattle City Light, Seattle's publicly owned power utility, has been selected to lead a national effort to guide municipalities in evaluating light emitting diode (LED) street lights. The Municipal Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium will collect, analyze, and share information and lessons learned about LED street-lighting demonstrations to facilitate the adoption of this energy efficiency technology. Starting today, cities, power providers and others who invest in street and area lighting are invited to join the consortium and share their experiences through national and regional meetings, Webcasts, Web-based discussion forums, and other means. The goal is to build a repository of valuable field experience and data that will significantly accelerate the learning curve for buying and implementing high-quality, energy efficient LED street lights. This DOE effort is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Interest in LED street lighting is rapidly increasing country-wide, fueled in part by cities aiming to replace existing street lighting with energy efficient LEDs, which can significantly reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Many cities and towns are using Recovery Act funding distributed through DOE's Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants Program to move toward their energy efficiency goals. "As communities look to this technology to cut energy consumption, reduce their carbon footprint, and lower operating costs, this national consortium will share valuable information so they can make smarter, more informed decisions about the equipment they buy," said Jim Brodrick, DOE Lighting Program Manager.

Edward Smalley, manager of streetlight engineering at Seattle City Light, will lead the collaboration. Joining Jim Brodrick and Edward Smalley for the announcement in Seattle were Mike McGinn, Mayor of Seattle, and Ed Ebrahimian, Director of the Bureau of Street Lighting for the City of Los Angeles, who signed on as the Consortium's first members.