Echelon Corp. (www.echelon.com) has won a tender for California's first smart streetlight project. The city of San Jose has selected Echelon's LonWorks technology for its second LED streetlight pilot. This project is part of the city's Green Vision, an ambitious and forward-thinking 15-year plan to transform San Jose into a world center of clean technology innovation, to promote environmentally sustainable practices and to reduce energy use.

Streetlights networked with Echelon's intelligent controls for smart networks can significantly reduce a city's energy and maintenance costs, while improving light quality, decreasing light pollution and providing increased safety.

With this pilot, San Jose plans to convert 125 lights in the city's Hillview North neighborhood by June 2009. The new streetlights will use energy-efficient LED lamps equipped with Echelon's power-line networking technology and segment controllers. The city is seeking funds from the U.S. government's stimulus package to install additional lights, with plans to change all of its 65,000 streetlights to a new energy-efficient system by 2022. The city expects to reduce energy use by almost 40% with the new system.

“San Jose is working to show the world that environmental responsibility makes financial sense,” said Chuck Reed, the mayor of the San Jose. “By transforming our streetlights, we help innovators create new industries and reduce the city's own operating and maintenance costs.”