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Do you walk, bike, drive, or jog in San José after dark? Are you challenged by the inability to discern colors under San José’s current yellow streetlights? Would you like to see the stars at night when you step out your back door? Are you eager to see the City realize its goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
Then please join us at a community meeting on Wednesday, July 21, 2010 from 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. at City Hall, Wing Room 120, 200 East Santa Clara Street. (See attached PDF flyer)
With the adoption of its Green Vision in 2007, the City of San José made a commitment to convert all of its 62,000 streetlights to zero emission lights—streetlights powered entirely by renewable energy—by 2022. The Green Vision is a comprehensive ten-point plan that seeks to more than halve the City’s carbon footprint by 2022.
To achieve its streetlight goal, the City is first looking to substantially reduce the energy consumption of its streetlights. San José was progressive in the 1980s when it converted its streetlights from mercury vapor and incandescent fixtures to its current lights: primarily Low-Pressure Sodium. These yellow-colored lights are very energy efficient and emit a narrow bandwidth of light that Lick Observatory is able to screen out. The City has had to innovate to find ways to reduce its energy consumption further, protect the night sky and preserve if not enhance the quality of lighting on its streets.
One strategy the City has been pursuing is “smart” LED streetlights—highly-energy efficient, long-lasting streetlights that the City can dim in the late night hours. Dimming the lights when traffic is minimal reduces wasted light and light pollution, including light that would interfere with astronomical research. The City also conducted a streetlight demonstration and study in early March 2010 to gather information from residents on their response to LED and other energy efficient lighting sources. The findings from this demo/study helped inform a Streetlight Master Plan that the City Council will consider on August 31.
Please consider attending the community meeting on July 21 to hear a presentation on the proposed plan, pose questions, and share your thoughts. The presentation will outline the overall approach staff is recommending, the types of lights that would be used, and how those lights would be operated to reduce the City’s energy consumption, improve the quality of light on San José streets, and protect the night sky.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the city at streetlightdemo@sanjoseca.gov or 408/535-3850.
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