“At the end of two years, after having paid back the investment costs, we shall save around €800,000 per year whilst as from the moment the LEDs are installed, we attain savings of €160,000”, the Councillor for Green Infrastructures and Energy, José Sá Fernandes, told Lusa News Agency.
The process spans some 20,000 bulbs across an approximate 8,500 sets of traffic lights across the city with the replacement due for completion by the end of July added Fernandes.
The tender approved by the council demonstrates total energy savings of 94.4 percent on the current situation with the council spending €637,000 this year before a further €765,500 in 2016 with the investment required in 2017 totalling around €127,500 with the phased spending costs met by the savings in the meanwhile getting leveraged.
Fernandes maintained that this would not only improve energy consumption levels but also promote greater visibility of the traffic lights and hence enhance road safety.
The same council meeting also approved the founding of a Municipal Fund for Environmental Sustainability to advance with other such green projects.