LED street lightning paving the way for a carbonneutral Aarhus

In 2015, the City of Aarhus launched a comprehensive LED street lighting project with the aim of replacing the mercury lamps used in the city’s streetlights with LED lamps. The project was completed in late 2018.

 

The environment-friendly project is subsidised by the EU through the subsidy and loan programme called ELENA (European Local Energy Assistance) as part of the battle against climate change.

 

LED lamps have a much lower environmental footprint than mercury lamps. The project will reduce the city’s annual power consumption by 30%, equal to the annual power consumption of 1,500 households, and it will reduce the city’s carbon footprint by a little over 2,500 tonnes per year. The energy-saving impacts also materialise as lower operating costs, with the replacement expected to be recovered over a period of 18 years.

 

The new LED lamps also contribute to higher road safety and increased security on the city’s roads and paths, because the new solution makes it easier to control the city’s street lighting.

 

LED street lamps may be dimmed, while previously the city had to switch off every other one, creating gaps in the street lighting. The loan is granted in tranches. The tranches granted after KommuneKredit started to issue green bonds have been approved by KommuneKredit’s Green Bond Committee for the association’s pool of green loans for use in our green bond issues.