City of Cupertino

What is Cupertino doing to Improve streetlight infrastructure?

Upgrade to LED Light:

Increase energy and cost efficiency

Pole Replacement:

Prevent failure of old inner rusty pole

Reduce Light pollution:

Protect wildlife and animals

Ensure Safety of our Community:

See the map for streetlights near you

Pole Conversion Project

2025/2026 Replace the steel poles to Type 15 poles

Public Works Street Maintenance staff will remove 76 steel streetlight poles and install new galvanized Type 15 streetlight poles

The existing steel poles are 30-55+ years old

The steel poles rust at the base from moisture from rain and landscape irrigation

The new galvanized Type 15 poles have a service life of 30-50 years depending on conditions

The Fluted pole conversion completed in 2024

	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Fluted	396	336	272	166	94	43	0
Type 15	0	60	124	230	302	353	396

Old Fluted Poles

30+ years old
Painted steel can rust from the inside out
Metal Halide light fixtures

New Type15 Poles

Hot galvanized dipped steel pole
35-55 year service life
Less chance of corrosion

Through our annual pole replacement projects and future inspection projects, we are being proactive in identifying and replacing poles that could be at risk from rusting and corrosive conditions.

A pole hit by a truck (Source: City of Cupertino Public Works)

LED Improvements Project

‟ The light-emitting diode (LED) is today's most energy-efficient and rapidly-developing lighting technology. ”

- (Source: The the U.S. Department of Energy)

LED Improvements Project is coming Summer 2025!!

Benefits of LED are:

Energy efficient: far less power to emit

Fewer energy emissions - less energy waste, less light, & heat pollution

Longer lifespan resulting in less waste and less labor

Quick start: no warm-up time

(Source: The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission & HeiSolar)
	LED	Inductive	High Pressure Sodium	Metal Halide	Mercury Vapor
Rated Lamp Life (hrs)	Excellent: >50,000	Excellent: >100,000	Fair: 20,000 - 24,000	Fair: 14,000 - 18,000	Fair: 28,000
Net Efficiency (lm/W)	Excellent: >70	Excellent: >70	Good: 32 - 68	Fair: 21 - 34	Good: <60
Ability to Integrate Dynamic Controls	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Pros	Excellent energy efficient with less heat emission. Better directional and high-quality light, as well as low maintenance costs.	Excellent energy efficiency with superior lamp life.	Relatively energy efficient. Efficiency gains may be lost by over-lighting to mitigate poor color accuracy. Lamp is cheap.	Relatively energy efficient.	Historically, the advantages of Mercury vapor lamps are that they are more energy efficient than incandescent and most fluorescent lights, but now are getting absolute.
Cons	Expensive upfront cost	Has a larger size than other types of lamps, which inhibits it from effective light control.	A short service life, low light efficiency, poor color rendering, low power factor, low hot start, and low flux stability.	Most have a poor lamp life and high maintenance costs. Light pollution, UV emission if their outer glass breaks, and mercury and other heavy metals are used.	Hazardous emissions as it produces ultraviolet rays.

Cupertino received a grant back in 2010 to replace all the High-Pressure Sodium and Metal Halide lamps with Inductive lamps. Since that time as we have replaced all faulty lamps with LED. Conversion to LED will continue to happen over time as the Inductive lamps need to be replaced.

LED Improvements of the City-Owned Lights Culmulative Annual Costs

(Source: City of Cupertino Environmental Programs Division)

To save energy and preserve the night sky,
the City is limiting excessive public lighting use after dark.

‟ The perils of light pollution go far beyond not being able to see as many stars. Too much brightness at night can harm people’s health, send migrating birds flying into buildings, disrupt food webs by drawing pollinating insects toward lights instead of plants ... ”

- (Source: ScienceNews)

What is Cupertino doing?

Color Temperature

The new LED streetlight fixtures will have a correlated color temperature of 3,000 Kelvin or less, as recommended by American Medical Association.

Residential Streets: 2700 Kelvin

Arterial Streets(e.g. Stevens Creek Blvd): 3000 Kelvin

Auto on and off

The LED streetlights have photocells to switch the fixtures on or off, relative to the light available from the sky. In our parks and parking lots many locations have the photocells, and timers are installed in some locations.

Highly Efficient LEDs

Installation of LED lighting offers significant advantages in terms of energy efficiency. Once the new LED fixtures are installed, the City is projected to save$125K annually, and $2.9M over the next 20 years. The 20 year savings breaks down into $2 million saved in energy costs, and saving $900K in maintenance costs.

Average Radiance and Cloud-Free Observations(source: Esri Imagery)updated: Apr 3, 2025

Need Service?

Report it with Cupertino 311

Cupertino 311

The City of Cupertino offers residents enhanced access to issue reporting and important city information through Cupertino 311. This platform allows community members to easily report concerns such as graffiti, potholes, and other maintenance issues for prompt attention by City staff.

Need to submit a streetlight 311 request?

Select 311 Category for Streetlight

Select the "Streetlight concern" option. Once you submit you will receive a follow-up to your request via email.

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