City plan for solar street lights

Proposals to use solar and wind powered street lights are being considered in York in a bid to slash the city's escalating energy costs.

In 2005/6, York's electricity bill for its 20,000 street lights was £750,000.

In comparison, Wigan has 36,000 lights yet its energy bill was £80,000 less and all the energy used is guaranteed to come from wind power.

Councillors are now looking at ways to use green power in the city in areas where there is no national grid supply.

While investigating whether York can become more environmentally friendly, and save money, officers also looked at trials of green lighting in Hull and Kirklees.

Their recommendations include replacing old mercury vapour lamps with more energy efficient models and setting the city an initial target of 20% for using renewable energy sources in its lights.