The city of Vancouver is officially moving forward with a plan to upgrade 13,500 of the city’s 18,000 street light bulbs to energy-efficient LEDs.
The switch from sodium bulbs in the city’s cobra-head style street lamps will begin late this fall and conclude in August. The change won’t extend to the decorative acorn-style lights on vertical lampposts in the downtown area, which will keep using sodium bulbs.
On Monday, the city awarded a $1.1 million contract for the project to Kelso-based On Magnum Power, LLC. The city council in April approved the purchase of up to $2 million in LED bulbs.
The switch is expected to cut the city’s annual electricity budget by about $470,000 per year, slashing the current cost of street lighting in half.
