In 2013, the Department of Transportation announced that it would replace all 250,000 streetlights in New York City with energy-efficient light-emitting diode (LED) technology by 2017. The correlated color temperature of a streetlight is defined as the perceived color of the light emitted by a lamp, which is expressed in Kelvin (K) units. The color tone can range from warm (yellow and red) lighting to cool (blue) lighting. This bill would require that any lamp installed as part of the lighting of streets, highways, parks, or any other public place have a correlated color temperature no higher than 3000 Kelvin. All new and replacement outdoor lamps would be required to meet this standard.
- Filed (End of Session)
History
Int. No. 822
By Council Members Richards, Rosenthal, Johnson, Levin, Constantinides, Espinal, Maisel, Menchaca, Kallos, Chin and Koslowitz
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to placing a cap on the correlated color temperature of new and replacement streetlights.
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Subchapter one of chapter one of title 19 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 19-157 to read as follows:
§19-157 Limitation on correlated color temperature of streetlights. a. Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(1) “Correlated color temperature” means the perceived color of the light emitted by a lamp, expressed in Kelvin (K) units.
(2) “Kelvin” means the unit of measurement used to characterize the color of light emitted by a lamp.
b. Any lamp to be used in the illumination of streets, highways, parks, or any other public place shall have a correlated color temperature no higher than 3000 Kelvin. All new and replacement outdoor lamps shall be installed in accordance with this section.
§2. This local law shall take effect immediately upon enactment into law.
ENB
11/17/14
LS#3172