IT is going to be all white on the night as 10,000 of the city's orange street lights are replaced with brighter energy saving bulbs.

 

Work will start in April and will take until March 2017 to complete.

The new lighting will be installed on existing lampposts and wall brackets on all major routes in the city as well as a number of minor roads.

City council bosses hope they will be distributed evenly across Glasgow but admit that will depend on the existing lighting columns having a lifespan of at least 10 years to ensure maximum value for money.

The work will be carried out in four phases to allow for the purchase of the new lanterns and to help minimise disruption to road users.

The city council and the Green Investment Bank are funding the £9million cost of the project but that will be repaid in time due to improved energy efficiency and reduced maintenance costs.

City council leader Gordon Matheson, who is also chairman of Sustainable Glasgow, said: "This is another key element of our commitment to make Glasgow one of Europe's most sustainable cities within the next 20 years.

"It currently costs around £8.5million a year to power and repair the city's street lights. The longer life cycle of LED lamps means we not only reduce our future maintenance and associated costs but also our carbon emissions.

"It is particularly fitting that, as we celebrate our environmental credentials with Glasgow's Green Year, we see our ageing street lights replaced with eco-friendly LED lamps, using less energy and less CO2 emissions."

Changing the fittings in 10,000 street lights will result in a reduction of 1664 tonnes a year of carbon and represents a contribution of 3% towards the council's CO2 reduction target in 2020.

A number of years ago, the city council decided to trial a scheme to scrap unpopular orange lighting and replace them with energy saving white bulbs and some main routes into the city already have improved white lighting.

Green councillor Nina Baker said they had been calling for the past few years for the introduction of more of the low energy lights.

She added: "In general terms we are glad to see the changeover to more energy efficient light bulbs for the street lights."