Above: St Lucia

By the Caribbean Journal staff

St Lucia has begun a pilot project aimed at replacing the country’s street lights with Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs.

The government said it was part of an effort to reduce its utility bills, which reach around $7 million for street lights alone each year.

Under the project, St Lucia has erected 48 LED bulbs on the country’s John Compton Highway and Jeremie Street.

“This is to reduce on the energy consumption of these lights, so this project will be monitored,” said Vincent Antoine. “First we’re going to install a meter to monitor consumption, and then we’ll also check the level of the lighting so we don’t compromise the existing lighting level. This is going to be monitored throughout a period of about a month or so or even more but it’s basically to reduce the energy consumption.”

The lights burn around 10 percent less energy than the lights that are normally used.