Brookhaven Town to replace 45,000 streetlights with energy-efficient bulbs

Brookhaven Town Highway officials say they are on pace to replace all of the town’s 45,000 outdated streetlights by the end of 2020.

Roughly 11,000 fixtures have been replaced with more energy-efficient lights since 2013, saving more than $1.1 million in energy costs, highway officials said.

“We are on course to meet our goal,” Brookhaven Town Highway Superintendent Daniel P. Losquadro said in a statement. “By the end of 2020, we will have replaced every high and low-pressure sodium light in the town.”

Efforts ramped up in October after creating the energy-efficient streetlight conversion program, and since then roughly 1,000 old lights per month have been replaced, officials said.

Brookhaven used nearly 18,000 kilowatts of energy in 2013 for the streetlights but expects to use 14,000 kilowatts this year, highway officials said .

The LED lights are up to 60 percent more efficient, have an estimated life span of as long as 20 years, a 10-year warranty and require less maintenance, town officials said.

Electric costs for the town were $3.2 million in 2013, compared to the projected $2.08 million this year.

“This is real, recurring savings,” Losquadro said. “We have managed to bring our costs down year over year.”

Brookhaven is using $900,000 in repurposed federal grant money to replace the fixtures.

Town officials last year asked the U.S. Department of Energy to repurpose the funds which were left over from a $4 million grant the federal department awarded to Brookhaven in 2009 in part for energy improvements to homes, town buildings and solar programs.

Babylon Town officials last month said it has replaced its 13,354 streetlights with more efficient ones, saving $1 million annually. The four-month switch-over to LED cost $3.2 million.

Southampton Town completed its streetlight conversion to LED lights in November.