SYRACUSE — New “energy-efficient,” LED (light emitting diode) streetlights installed throughout the city of Syracuse will save the city $3.3 million annually. They’ll also reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by nearly 8,500 tons a year — “the equivalent of taking more than 1,660 cars off the road.” That’s according to the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo whose […]
SYRACUSE — New “energy-efficient,” LED (light emitting diode) streetlights installed throughout the city of Syracuse will save the city $3.3 million annually.
They’ll also reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by nearly 8,500 tons a year — “the equivalent of taking more than 1,660 cars off the road.” That’s according to the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo whose Smart Street Lighting NY program was the impetus for the project.
Syracuse — through a partnership with the New York Power Authority (NYPA) — replaced all of its streetlights with the “most comprehensive set of innovative Smart City technologies in the state,” Cuomo’s office said in a news release.
The more than $16 million initiative, implemented by NYPA, includes the replacement of about 17,500 streetlights throughout the city with “Smart, LED fixtures, improving lighting quality and neighborhood safety while saving energy and maintenance costs.” The city’s streetlights are now outfitted with Smart controls that provide programmed dimming ability, energy metering, fault monitoring, and additional tools for emergency services through on-demand lighting levels, per the authority.
Funding and features
NYPA provided Syracuse with a $500,000 Smart Cities grant for the project. The city used the additional funding to support special features on the streetlights that “demonstrate the latest in Smart City technologies,” focused on digital connectivity, environmental monitoring, and public safety.
The state expects those features will be “fully implemented” in early 2021.
With digital connectivity, Syracuse is planning to deploy exterior Wi-Fi at community centers and public spaces, including in neighborhoods that are in need of expanded digital-network services.
The environmental-monitoring feature means ice and snow-detection systems will assist city officials in pinpointing streets covered in ice or snow that require attention to “prevent accidents and improve safety.” The sensors provide data that can tell the city where salt trucks and plows are most needed instead of directing trucks to drive pre-determined routes. Crews will also install flood reporting and monitoring systems, Cuomo’s office said.
With the public safety and property protection feature, crews will install illegal dumping and vandalism-detection sensors at “strategic” locations to help mitigate these disturbances. The City of Syracuse will also deploy vacant-house monitoring. The system can monitor for potential fires, detect motion, and provide temperature and humidity readings of vacant homes.
Crews will also install trash-bin sensors at various locations throughout the city that will detect when a trash bin is full and alert local officials for pickup.
New York has now replaced more than 100,000 of its streetlights with LED fixtures, a step toward Cuomo’s goal to replace at least 500,000 streetlights with LED technology by 2025 under Smart Street Lighting NY.