QUINCY, ILL. -- The city of Quincy wants to go green with a new way of light.
City Engineer Jeff Steinkamp says he's taking bids from energy auditing companies who could replace the city's current 3-thousand street lights with LED lights.
"A few years ago, for street lights, it probably didn't make sense, but now, as new technology is coming along and costs are being driven down, I think it's something we should look at," Steinkamp said.
He says replacing the city's current street lights for LED lights would save the the city time, money and energy.
"We basically have mercury vapor, or high pressure sodium lights in the city. With the new LED technology, that might be something we decide to change out, and 1/10 the energy and ten times the longer bulb life," Steinkamp said.
Quincy has more than 3 thousand street lights ... so the project would be quite the undertaking. The city could also decide to replace incandescent bulbs with LED lights on taxiways and runways at Quincy Regional Airport. They're already in place at almost all of Quincy's intersections.
"We've been very successful in our traffic signals for the past 7 or 8 years with the LED technology, which has saved us time and money, so I think street lights should be the next thing to look at," Steinkamp said.
The city already received a bid from Siemens. The company would oversee the design of the plan if chosen and would hire local contractors to carry out the projects.
"Through the city, they're looking at possibly $300,000 per year in energy savings, and it would be an investment to put that kind of infrastructure and equipment in place," Steinkamp said.
The city is looking into just how much that would cost.
"The City Council will make the decision on what we do."
Steinkamp says he expects more offers to come in soon.
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