Hamilton city plans to replace 10,000 outdated streetlights with energy saving LED bulbs using provincial incentives before Dec. 31, 2015, according to a report from The Spectator.

The project is paid by the provincial incentives funding adapted to cut municipal energy consumption.

Mike Field, project manager of street lighting and electrical engineering, says the incentive funding accelerates the city’s plan to upgrade its streetlight to LED. "They were very lucrative incentives for us," he said. "That caused us to accelerate some of the planning we've done in the past."

The total cost for upgrading the streetlights are estimated to be at the range of US $5 million to $5.5 million, where $3.5 million are from the province. The city expects $700,000 of saving each year from the upgrade.

However, the city has to finish all of the work before the deadline of Dec. 31, 2015 in order to receive the provincial funding. The city can repay its reserves within three years with the provincial money, but without the provincial funding, the city wouldn’t be able to repay its reserves for almost eight years.

Still, Field says the project will be done well ahead of the deadline by September 2015.

New LED streetlights cut energy consumption by half and are mainly on the city’s arterial roads. Field also added LED streetlights have other advantages such as better colour rending, clear white light sight and pollution free.