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Light-emitting diode streetlights are a popular lighting solution among many environment-conscious and frugal city officials around the world.

And it’s not surprising why. LEDs are vastly superior to traditional metal halide and high-pressure sodium lamps—easily recognizable by their warm orange glow—in terms of lifespan and durability. This means that cities don’t have to worry about making as many streetlight replacements, which also means lower labor costs.

But more importantly, LED streetlights use up to 50 percent less energy than their traditional counterparts, which can save large cities millions of dollars each year, all while reducing their carbon footprint.

To prove even further why LEDs are a perfect addition to your CITYNAME home, here’s a list of cities that have adopted LEDs for their lighting.

1. New York City

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) maintains over 250,000 streetlights in New York City, making it a national leader in sustainable and energy-efficient street lighting. In 2013, Mayor Bloomberg announced that all New York City streetlights would be replaced with LEDs by 2017, reducing both electricity consumption and lighting costs.

The NYC DOT estimates that moving to LED light bulbs could save the city as much as $8 million a year on electricity, and another $8 million a year on maintenance costs.

2. Sydney

Sydney stands out for being one of the first cities in the world to switch to LED lighting, such that the city ‘s LED program has also been recognized for innovation and leadership at the 2014 Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (NSW) annual awards.

The city has already saved close to $800,000 in electricity and maintenance costs, slashing down electricity usage by more than 48 percent since March 2012, when they rolled out more than 6,600 LED bulbs for streetlights and park lights. It’s the first program of its kind in Australia, and has slowly spread out across neighboring councils and cities.

3. Los Angeles

In 2013, Los Angeles completed what was then the world’s largest lighting retrofit (now surpassed by New York City), replacing more than 141,000 streetlights to energy-efficient LED Lighting. Naturally, other cities have followed L.A.’s example, but the California city is still one of the leaders in LED street lighting, establishing itself as a pioneer in city-wide energy efficiency.

4. Seattle

 Seattle is another U.S. city making great efforts to improve safety and efficiency by converting streetlights on arterial roads from high-pressure sodium lamps to LEDs. The city touts the improved visibility and safety of LED for drivers and pedestrians as key reasons for the retrofit. Replacement of arterial road streetlights first began in Seattle in March 2015. Work continues today, and depending on whether workers can continue to be ahead of schedule, Seattle could see streetlights as far as south as Seattle city limits to be replaced with LEDs by 2017.

Of course, these four are but a few of the many cities making the conscious effort to switch to LED lighting. Others include London, Tokyo, Ottawa, and Chicago among many others.

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