Photo by Jessica Stewart / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

Lampposts light Francis Street Thursday night. The city will spend more than $750,000 this year to power the streetlights.

Talk about “green,” and people tend to either raise their eyebrows in interest or roll their eyes in cynicism. But regardless of how they feel about the environment, some new green initiatives are simply about the old green — money.

The city of St. Joseph plans to pay KCP&L about $780,000 this year for streetlight electricity and maintenance.

As technology improves, a few communities are switching to LED (light-emitting diodes) bulbs. They’re more expensive, but one city says LEDs can provide a net savings within three to six years.

“They use 52 percent less energy compared with period lights,” said Mike Bergren, assistant field operations manager for Ann Arbor, Mich.

Ann Arbor is converting all 1,000 of its downtown streetlights to LEDs. Each light costs about $430 and saves about $107 per year, plus the bulbs last about five times longer, Mr. Bergren said.

In new neighborhoods, Ann Arbor now requires developers to install LEDs, he said. The cost can be twice or triple the popular “period” or “acorn” lights, but that’s paid by developers and new home buyers — not taxpayers. Taxpayers save on utility costs immediately.

“For a developer, it’s a higher cost, but it’s one of our requirements,” Mr. Bergren said. “It’s like hooking up to our sewer — they don’t like that either — but in the long term the resident actually gains on their taxpayer utility bill.”

But ask a developer or even KCP&L in Northwest Missouri, and the standard answer is that the LED technology isn’t yet up to par for streetlights.

Mr. Bergren said that used to be the case. But now Ann Arbor buys LEDs from Cree Inc., of North Carolina, which around January began producing an LED that puts out the streetlight-standard 100 lumens per watt.

He concedes that the technology is very new and requires much homework. Ann Arbor tested lights themselves to find the proper quality.

“All products are not equal,” Mr. Bergren said.

KCP&L north district manager Matt Dority said the electric utility hasn’t heard any interest yet from cities about LEDs, but it is working on a lighting-rebate program for homeowners.

“Where it’s available, we are a huge proponent of energy efficiency,” Mr. Dority said.

St. Joseph City Manager Vince Capell said alternative lights aren’t yet on the city’s radar, but he’s sure the city and KCP&L will consider going with them in the next five to 10 years. Any relief on electric costs would be welcome.

“It’s an $800,000 chunk of cash in a fund that already struggles to pave streets,” Mr. Capell said.

Joe Blumberg can be reached

at joeblumberg@npgco.com.