City dad proposes LED lights for streets

CEBU, Philippines - Streets in Cebu City will soon be lit with light-emitting diode (LED) devices after the Cebu City Council approved the proposed ordinance, which aims to reduce the maintenance cost of street lightings and shift to an environment-friendly technology.

The ordinance, which was proposed by Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival, was supported by the Visayan Electric Company.

"There is a need to convert the Cebu City Government's conventional street lighting facilities into the Light Emitting Diode (LED) facilities, which have longer lifespan and are more energy efficient in order to reduce the cost of maintaining the said program and likewise, to shift into greener technology in order to live with its vision to be a livable city," said Archival in his proposed ordinance.

According to the data from VECO, Cebu City's account covers 79 areas, 27,822 lighting fixtures and 63 different lighting sources or types of lamps, excluding LED. For the month of February alone, the total connected load or wattage under the city's account is at 3,328,532W, with a monthly billing amount of P11,019,537.

Objectives of the proposed ordinance include the replacement of existing luminaries with LED lights to generate savings from reduced electricity consumption and lower maintenance cost; reduction of emission with sustainable green lighting emissions; and reduction of energy consumption by at least 50 percent, without any loss of performance.

 "This ordinance shall cover all the existing street lighting facilities within the territorial jurisdiction of the city of Cebu," read Section 5 of the proposed ordinance.

Section 7 of the ordinance mandates that there shall be no additional cash-out from the city government, except for the recurring annual budget allocation for street lighting, which for the purpose of the ordinance is fixed at P10 million.

In the part of the VECO, they believe that the use of LED lights could help them in their goal to improve customer service, reduce system loss and efficiently manage operational costs.

"VECO believes that use of LED will provide parties the following advantages while overpowering its disadvantages," read the company's position paper.

They, though, suggested the installation of standard streetlight bracket and arms to go with the lights since this will also improve lighting focus.

VECO also presented the advantages of the LED lights, which include reduced maintenance costs due to long life span, absence of toxic chemicals such as Mercury and no production of ultraviolet light which attracts insects.

"Cebu City will be the first to make this into a reality if this is finally approved. Therefore, VECO highly recommends the implementation of this ordinance," read the position paper.   (FREEMAN)