That is the approach Colchester County (Nova Scotia) council plans to use while researching the planned switch to LED lighting for municipal streetlights.
"Is it feasible if you have to replace 1,400 lights with 2,800 lights?" asked District 9 Coun. Bob White, during discussion this week (May 18) in council committee.
"Is it going to cost more? Where does it make sense that you have to change them?"
Such were the questions raised during the discussion when council was informed that more research is required by the municipality before it can even consider making the switch from conventional street lighting to the more energy efficient LED variety.
The provincial government announced last year plans to make LED lighting mandatory on all Nova Scotia roads and highways. Municipalities are required to achieve 75 per cent conversion by June 30, 2017 and 100 per cent by June 30, 2019.
Municipalities are currently holding negotiations with Nova Scotia Power regarding how much each sector will have to pay for the conversion, how much will be charged for supply, installation, maintenance, light replacements and so on.
Colchester plans to partner with the towns of Truro and Stewiacke and the Village of Bible Hill for the conversion process.
The municipality has about 1,400 streetlights that will have to be converted at a cost of about $1,000 each.
NSP estimates the municipality will achieve an 11 per cent saving in electricity costs after the conversion. But because LED lighting provides a more direct light source and disperses over less area, questions were raised whether more streetlights would be required with the new variety.
"There's a lot of unknowns here, a lot of scary things," Mayor Bob Taylor said, of the issues raised.
Council decided the go slow approach would be the best line to follow on the issue and given the number of questions that remain unanswered, it plans to have staff complete a lighting design plan and an installation plan prior to proceeding any further.
"We just need a little more time to conduct our research," county CAO Dan MacDougall told council.
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