There's Green, and there's stupid Green

The Register reports on a "successful" trial project for greener street lighting in Westminster:

Westminster City Council is doing its bit to save the planet by installing energy-saving street lamps in every thoroughfare in the borough, the BBC reports.

The bold initiative follows a "successful trial" of the £1,000-a-pop Furyo Lanterns on Harrow Road which saved "on an average day", enough juice to light a house for two days and cut carbon emissions on the test highway by 0.28 tonnes over three weeks.

Sounds like a pretty good thing, right? Lower energy costs, no loss in street light lumens, it's a slam-dunk.

Oh, but wait . . .

So far so good. However, the Beeb says that if Westminster replaces all of its 29,000 street lights, it will save "up to £20,000 every year". Since the cost of the new, whale-hugging illumination is £29m, it will therefore recoup its outlay in a mere 1,450 years.

That's not quite an enticing return on investment.