Dec 29 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Rad Sallee Houston Chronicle

Drivers, rejoice! Before long, Houston will have 2,400 traffic lights that are always green.

Mayor Bill White accepted a $148,000 rebate check this week from CenterPoint Energy to pay for installing LED (light-emitting diode) traffic signals, which use far less electricity than regular lights and, consequently, cause less pollution.

Green lights, you see.

So far, the city has 300 of them. The payment was the first installment of $1 million the city will receive for 2,400 LED traffic signals it expects to have operating in the next 18 months, according to White's spokesman, Frank Michel.

The rebates come under a CenterPoint program offering incentives to large users of electricity to cut energy consumption.

LEDs, once limited to the likes of pocket calculators and the little red light that says your cell phone is on, now are used in everything from large advertising signs to home lighting.

rad.sallee@chron.com