The City of Calgary’s Department of Transportation is going with GE Lighting’s LED technology to replace and upgrade existing street light fixtures as part of a proposed city-wide retrofit that will see 80,000 street fixtures upgraded, dropping electricity consumption by 55 percent. 

The already-approved first phase of the project will see the installation of GE’s Scalable Cobrahead ERS1 and ERS2 in five Calgary communities for fall 2014. If the city-wide retrofit is approved by city council later this year, it would make Calgary the largest Canadian city to have LED lighting for its streets. 

With a lifespan of over a decade, the LED lights would also reduce maintenance costs, while reducing the up-lighting to near zero, GE said. 

“This street light modernization project will be one that the people of Calgary will recognize and realize benefits from immediately,” said Derek Publicover, general manager of GE Lighting Canada. “Illuminating Calgary in a responsible way, while showcasing the beauty of this great city, is something that the GE Lighting team in Canada is looking forward to.”