CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who served as national co-chairman of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign, is scheduled to appear today at City Hall with former President Clinton to announce a five-year project with the Clinton Climate Initiative to make the city’s streetlights more energy-efficient.
The mayor’s office said the plan to swap out all 140,000 of L.A.’s residential streetlights with more energy-efficient LED lights would be the largest program of its kind undertaken by a city. Normal street lamps last four to six years. The LED lights can last as long as 10 years, which officials hope would save $48 million over seven years.
The switch is also expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 40,500 tons each year, which the mayor’s office said would be the equivalent of taking 6,700 cars off the street.
The Clinton Climate Initiative, which falls under the umbrella of the former president’s foundation, was launched in 2006 to work with cities and private companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In New York, the group recently joined the housing authority to install 10,000 fluorescent lightbulbs at one of the largest housing developments in the country.
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-- Maeve Reston
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