Elgin on track to convert all streetlights to LED

How many people does it take to change a light bulb? What about 6,699 light bulbs?

That's the job in front of the Elgin Public Works Department as crews look to transition all of the city's streetlights to LED.

Public Works Director Mike Pubentz and Superintendent Aaron Neal provided an update to the $1.7 million project to the Elgin City Council during last week's committee of the whole meeting.

"This is going to be a net zero project for us five years from now, and it's going to improve years-old city infrastructure," Neal said, pointing out the new LEDs will use about 60% less energy.

"We're going to reduce our electric bill, which means in four to five years, this project will be paid for," he said. "And we're going to have infrastructure that is going to last us 15 to 20 years."

Elgin will also receive an incentive rebate from ComEd for $418,000, which Neal said is the largest preapproved rebate the company has given outside the city of Chicago.

Goals include improving existing lighting, reducing electrical and maintenance costs and creating consistent lighting.

Neal said LEDs are an economical choice, reduce the city's carbon footprint and help logistically from a maintenance perspective. Going forward, the city will need to stock only three types of replacement bulbs, compared to 15 different legacy fixtures it now uses.

Elgin has 9,418 lights illuminating the city, about 2,700 of which are owned by ComEd. ComEd will transition those lights to LED. A few hundred lights are on private roads and will have to be converted by other parties.

The lighting project was proposed in 2018 for Elgin's 2019 budget. In 2019, the public works department and city council approved hiring the Will Group to work on logistics and were ready to begin in 2020 before the city tabled the project due to budgetary concerns during the pandemic.

Now, the work will be broken into two phases, with phase one focusing on replacing "cobra head" streetlights starting in September and finishing by the end of the year. Phase two will handle decorative streetlights and take place in 2022.

Following guidance from the American Medical Association and the Dark Sky Association, 85% of the lights - those on collector and local roads - will be lower temperature lighting. Higher temperature lighting will be used on high-volume, high-speed arterial roads.

LEDs already have been installed at three sample areas so residents can judge the difference for themselves. Signs adorn poles along McLean Boulevard near Larkin High School, College Green Drive and Cobblers Crossing designate the areas. The city also has an educational webpage and is launching a social media campaign.

"This is huge for our community," council member Tish Powell said. "I think it speaks not only to our commitment to sustainability but our commitment to innovation and upgrading our infrastructure."