Quezon City will install 10,000 new LED (Light Emitting Diodes) streetlights this year to increase by more than 80% rate of illumination in the city, especially along major city roads and densely populated communities. The 10,000 new LED bulbs will be part of the 22,000 streetlights to be installed by the city government in a five--year period beginning 2012.

Katipunan Avenue, Aurora Boulevard, Visayas Avenue, West Avenue, Timog Avenue, IBP Road long Commonwealth Avenue, A. Bonifacio Avenue, Quirino Highway, Tandang Sora, SB Road along Gen. Luis and Litex Road along Commonwealth Avenue are among the major city roads covered by the project.

Also getting a share of the new streetlights are the thickly populated communities of Bagong Silangan, Batasan Hills, Commonwealth, Holy Spirit, Payatas, Novaliches Proper, Gulod, Bahay-Toro and Ramon Magsaysay.

Aside from promoting energy efficiency, the move to install new LED streetlights is also aimed at reducing the city's electricity bills by at least 50%. Thus far, electricity for streetlights using the existing High Pressure Sodium (HPS) streetlights account for 64.6% of the total electrical consumption of QC.

Mayor Herbert Bautista cited as imperative the need for QC to implement an energy- efficient street lighting program not only to reduce carbon greenhouse emissions but also to augment safety and security."We have to go green," the mayor stressed.

The city's street lighting program, which will be implemented by the task force streetlights headed by Engr. Ricky Aureo, also hopes to explore the city's carbon finance potential under the Clean Development Mechanism initiative provided under the carbon finance capacity building workshop organized by the QC Environmental Protection and Maste management Department and sponsored by the World Bank.

QC has already adopted the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) criteria in the evaluation of green infrastructure in a conscious effort to protect and conserve the environment. Under the Bautista administration, QC has also partnered with the International Institute for Energy Conservation (IIEC) for the adoption of procurement guidelines for life-cycle costing, green schools retrofit program, energy efficiency program for offices and hospitals, residential energy efficiency awareness program, five-year capital planning for energy efficiency retrofits, municipal fleet maintenance program, development of IRR for the city's green building ordinance and creation of the energy management council.

QC - PAISO