In celebration of Energy Month in May, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is proud to inform residents that forward thinking and sustainable development are at the centre in its plans of providing electricity through out the City. Currently the City has embarked on a project to retrofit the old street lights with LED fittings in all main roads, saving up to 60 percent of energy. To date, in excess of 300 LED fittings have been done.
The following roads will be retroffited: M4 expressway (including interchanges), M17, William Moffatt Expressway, Addo Road, Kempston Road, Cape Road (Westering area), Govan Mbeki Ave (Central), Allister Miller Drive and Strand Street.
The LED lighting will not only save energy, it will also improve visibility, as the LED illuminates are brighter than the old lamps. This will have a positive effect on road visibility and possibly decrease road accidents. The Municipality is spending around R8000 per fitting.
Mayoral Committee Member for Infrastructure and Engineering, Councillor Anette Lovemore said there were two major reasons why the municipality was aggressively pursuing energy efficiency in public lighting system.
“Our Metro spends approximately R25 million a year on power needed to energise our street lights and high mast lights. If we can reduce 60% across the board, we will have R15 million available to address other urgent energy needs, such as the provision of solar panels in informal areas that are not yet electrified,” said Councillor Lovemore.
Councillor Lovemore said: “We already include renewable sources in our energy mix, but, until we can move away from coal-fuelled power completely, we have to minimise our use of it, and thus reduce our carbon footprint. For both reasons described, changing to LED lights is absolutely the right thing to do”.
The money being used is part of the Capital Budget, as the project will also include the retrofitting of area and residential street lights. The area and residential street lights retrofitting will have a positive effect on visibility and possibly decrease incidents of crime.
NMB Communications
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