Edinburgh appoints city lighting contractor

New energy efficient street lights which will save the city millions, increase public safety and lead to fewer lighting faults are a step closer to being rolled out across the Capital after the City of Edinburgh Council appointed a contractor for the project.Councillors on the finance and resources committee today approved a £15.219 million contract with Amey Highways to replace approximately 54,000 street lights across Edinburgh with energy efficient lamps by the end of 2020.The move follows a 2014 pilot project to replace 7000 obsolete lanterns with Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights. These ‘white light’ technology lamps give off a clearer light and can last for more than 20 years compared to existing lights’ current life span of two to four years.The crisper light and new technology enhance community safety by making CCTV images clearer and by allowing light levels to be varied.The council has approximately 65,000 street lights, costing around £3m in energy alone every year. Energy costs continue to rise and the current lanterns are becoming obsolete, making them harder and costlier to maintain.To pre-empt these increases, £24.5m will be spent on upgrading all the city’s street lights; replacing inefficient lanterns with modern, energy efficient and environmentally friendly ones. This will achieve savings for the taxpayer of £54m over 20 years.