Carbon crunchers

CASEY Council wants to reduce its carbon footprint by replacing old streetlights.
The council has joined the Municipal Association of Victoria 40 other municipalities in calling on the government to fund a bulk changeover to replace old 1980s street lighting with new energy-efficient lights on all local roads.
Casey mayor Lorraine Wreford said while public lights were important for community safety, they were a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
“New technology fluorescent lights provide an energy saving of around 70 per cent compared to the current 80W mercury vapour lamps,” Cr Wreford said.
Of the 20,000 80W mercury vapour lights in Casey, Cr Wreford said 13,000 were suitable for conversion.
But the change over would cost council up to $5.9 million, so it urged state and federal governments to contribute money towards the Give Our Streets the Green Light campaign.
Cr Wreford said the greenhouse gas emission savings would be considerable.
“By replacing all the old 80W mercury vapour lamps with new energy efficient lights, council could save the equivalent greenhouse gas emissions of taking 20,300 cars off the road for a year.”
Cr Wreford encouraged the community to support call for the government to commit funding and visit www.greenlightourstreets.org.au to full out an online petition.