At the morning news conference yesterday, City Councilman Larry Reid said that the installation of energy-efficient LED street lights in the whole Oakland will save money in the long run and help reduce crimes.

Oakland has already begun replacing 30,000 installed high-pressure sodium street lights with LED street lights, following up a successful pilot program that in last fall the new LED street lights were installed in some place of the city.

City officials said that installing LED street lights will not only provide brighter and better lighting with less glare and fewer dark spots but also improve the public security. Reid believes that if the street lights can be much brighter, the bad guys will change their minds about committing crimes here because it's more likely that they will be seen.

Oakland is one of first municipalities in the U.S. that carry out large-scale LED lights conversion, as only 5 percent of municipalities in the U.S. have converted, or are in the process of LED lights converting. The installation is started at the San Leandro-Oakland border and west of Interstate Highway 580. The LED lights conversion program is expected to be finished by this December.

Oakland Public Works spokeswoman Kristine Shaff said that the cost for this LED conversion program is estimated to be $14.8 million, including materials and labor.  PG&E will provide about $2.9 million in incentive rebates to help fund the program.