Manningham Council is lighting the way to energy savings, with a program to replace decorative street lights with more energy efficient LED light globes over the coming weeks.

The project is being delivered as part of Council’s 2019/20 capital works program, and follows the upgrade of more than 6,000 street lights in Manningham to light emitting diode (LED) lighting in 2017. 

The LED light globes use approximately 80 per cent less electricity than mercury vapour lights and have about the same light output. LED lighting also has a significantly longer lifespan.

Manningham Mayor, Cr Paul McLeish, said the upgrade was part of Council’s commitment to reducing environmental impacts and responding to climate change. 

“Replacing traditional mercury vapour globes with LED lights will significantly reduce energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, mercury pollution and the electricity consumption costs of these decorative street lights,” he said. 

“It is also expected to extend the life of each lamp by up to 20 years, further reducing increasing energy and replacement costs.” 

The light replacements will be carried out across Manningham throughout May and June with works happening between 8.00am and 4.00pm with minimal disruption to local traffic. 

This lighting upgrade project supports the United Nations’ Minamata Convention on Mercury, which was signed by the Australian Government in 2013. Globally, major lamp manufacturers have also signed the agreement signalling their commitment to cease production of mercury-containing lamps by 2021. 

“One of the key themes of our Council Plan 2017-2021 is to reduce our environmental impact and adapt to climate change, this is one of the initiatives we are delivering to support this in Manningham,” Cr McLeish said.