The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced today that Seattle City Light has been selected to lead a national effort to guide municipalities in evaluating light emitting diode (LED) street lights. Edward Smalley of Seattle City Light will lead the Municipal Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium, which will collect, analyze, and share information and lessons learned related to LED street lighting demonstrations.

Interest in LED street lighting is growing rapidly across the country, fueled in part by cities looking to use American Recovery and Reinvestment Act/Block Grant funding to replace existing street lighting with energy-efficient LEDs.

Starting today, cities and power providers and others who invest in street and area lighting are invited to join the Consortium and share their experiences through national and regional meetings, webcasts, web-based discussion forums, and other means. The goal is to build a repository of valuable field experience and data that will significantly accelerate the learning curve for buying and implementing high quality, energy-efficient LED street lights. The DOE Consortium efforts are funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Learn more about the Consortium and its membership here