Ameren Missouri turns to LED for streetlights

After switching out the old sodium light for the new LED, Mike Griffin, a line service worker for Ameren, makes sure it works properly.
After switching out the old sodium light for the new LED, Mike Griffin, a line service worker for Ameren, makes sure it works properly.

Over the next five years, some 3,000 new LED streetlights will be installed in Jefferson City.

It's part of a statewide program launched Monday by Ameren Missouri.

LED lights use light-emitting diodes to produce light. They emit light in a specific direction, unlike the current incandescent bulbs that emit light and heat in all directions.

The company owns about 125,000 street and outdoor light fixtures which will be replaced under this program.

Company officials said replacing this number of lights and fixtures with LED lights is equivalent to taking more than 5,000 average homes of the power grid.

This will also save a light customer approximately $1 a month per fixture, since the LED's use 55-65 percent less energy than current street and outdoor lights.

"The current lights last three to four years," said Ralph Webb, the director of Ameren's Central Missouri Division. "The LED lights will last 10 years and can go as long as 15 years."