More LED lights to be installed at city parks under new energy efficiency initiative

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - The City and County of Honolulu launched a new initiative on Wednesday designed to ramp up efficiency efforts at parks and facilities across Oahu.

Mayor Caldwell proclaimed Wednesday “Energy Efficiency Day." City crews will be looking at all city parks and facilities to see where improvements can be made, like installing more LED lights.

So far, some 53,000 street lights on Oahu have already been converted to LEDs.

The new project is expected to create over 120 jobs and save the city up to $4 million a year in energy costs.

“As a state, we still spend about $5 billion a year on oil. The vast amount of our electricity is made from oil. And so for us, every dollar that we can take and put into a construction project here that saves energy is a job that we can have and we can keep people working here even in the middle of a pandemic,” Brody McMurtry of Johnson Controls, Inc. said.

“This is a project that’s going to create green jobs, it’s going to lower taxpayer costs over the long run, and it’s going to move us to a new renewable and sustainable future,” Josh Stanbro, Honolulu Chief Resilience Officer said.

Contracts have been awarded to Johnsons Controls and NORESCO. They will be looking at nearly every city facility from Honolulu Hale to the Blasidell, the zoo and every police and fire station.