Lancaster maintenance workers used to change the incandescent bulbs in the city's traffic lights every year.
In the three years since the city converted all 106 traffic signals to light-emitting diode fixtures, they have not changed a single bulb.
And city Public Works Director Charlotte Katzenmoyer doesn't expect to have to change any bulbs for at least another seven years.
They should last even longer than that, Katzenmoyer said of the LED bulbs, which are under warranty for 10 years.
But the biggest savings isn't in the labor cost, she said.
Our electric has dropped to less than a fifth of what it was before the retrofit, she said, citing an annual cost of more than $100,000 for the traffic signals falling to about $20,000.
It's saved us a ton a money, she said of the project.
Now, 14 county municipalities are following the city's lead in retrofitting traffic signals to save money and electricity.
The Lancaster Transportation Authority, an entity established by the county government, is spearheading the project. The authority is expected to sign a contract later this month to replace incandescent traffic signals with LEDs at 56 intersections.
The work is expected to begin in the next few weeks and be completed by late fall.
The $250,000 project is paid for by a small portion of a $3.8 million energy-efficiency block grant the county received through the federal stimulus program last year. Most of the grant money is going for energy audits of public buildings and efficiency upgrades, according to Harriett Parcells, a senior transportation planner with the county Planning Commission.
The intersections being retrofitted are in Akron, Ephrata and Mount Joy boroughs and Clay, East Cocalico, East Donegal, East Earl, East Hempfield, East Lampeter, Leacock, Mount Joy, Sadsbury, Warwick and West Lampeter townships.
The municipalities will pay 21 percent of the cost of signal replacement, and the county will pay the remaining 79 percent through the grant funds. The total cost is estimated to be about $4,000 per intersection.
The number of targeted intersections ranges from just one in some municipalities to as many as 10 in East Lampeter and East Hempfield townships, said Parcells, who coordinated the project on behalf of the authority.
Several municipalities already have replaced incandescent fixtures with LEDs. Besides the city, Manheim Township and Elizabethtown Borough have their own programs to do the conversions.
When the Transportation Authority project is complete, only 32 of the county's 478 signalized intersections will still be incandescent.
According to the federal Energy Department, the multifilament LED lights are expected to use 80-90 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs. That results in an annual savings of 10,841,882 kilowatt hours of electricity for all 56 intersections, or $1.1 million, according to PPL Electric Utilities.
The lower energy use also reduces CO2 emissions into the atmosphere by an estimated 9,116 metric tons, the Energy Department estimates.
Katzenmoyer said there also is an advantage to motorists.
When incandescent bulbs burn out, they go out completely, she said. That means motorists waiting for a green light might not get one - or they might end up driving through a red light that isn't functioning.
Because they have several individual filaments, LED traffic signals burn out gradually. City workers will have the opportunity to notice the light growing dimmer and change the bulb before it goes out completely, Katzenmoyer said.
But that hasn't happened yet.
