A few progressive cities around the world have taken initiative to reduce carbon output via the installation of energy saving streetlights. Benefits include 40-50% reduced operating costs, potentially safer streets, and lower maintenance. I know I'll be pushing this idea to my city's officials. 

"Washington DC might take its cue from the Smart Oslo project. Oslo, the capital of Norway, already implemented technology that converts streetlights from stand-alone lamp posts to a managed system. A company called Echelon Corporation based in San Jose (CA), has been contracted to replace Oslo's 55,000 mechanical streetlights with 'smart' electronic devices in which Echelon has engineered custom made power line communication technology.

"This is where the real beauty kicks in; data from the new lamps on the Oslo streets will be collected by approximately 1,000 segment controllers, which each manage the streetlights and communicate with the City of Oslo monitoring center. The city uses internet technology to report energy consumption, traffic and weather information. The system also calculates the availability of natural light from the sun and the moon. Ultimately, the energy savings of this smart technology made will repay Oslo's entire investment within five years."

For more, please read the original article:
http://www.triplepundit.com/pages/cities-around-the-globe-half-t-003198.php