Ann Arbor, Mich., Putting LEDs in All Streetlights

Associated Press ^ | October 18, 2007 | Unknown

[decimon]

DETROIT — How many Ann Arbor city workers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Soon, none.

Instead, they will be installing light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, to replace about 1,400 street lights.

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...LED technology, which uses less than half the energy of traditional bulbs and could save the community $100,000 a year.

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..."LEDs pay for themselves in four years," said Mayor John Hieftje...

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[Young Werther]

This is a stoopid solution. The City of Mesquite Texas changed the traffic lights at 26 intersections to the LED variety in 2002. The cost of the conversion was paid back by 2003. All of a sudden the City Council was faced with an electric bill that had decresed by about $12,000 per month.

Oh my what to do?????

Faced with excess money they did what any politician would do. They spent it on School Books and Playground Equipment!!!!!

Sarcasm Alert Off!

When Ralph Nader suggested that the first step in a comprehensive Energy policy would be to

Change the LightBulbs!

Since 25 % of all electricity generated is used for lighting the use of energy efficient bulbs would prodce the same light(lumens) with a 50% reduction of electricity. Change the lightbulbs and you could turn off ALL THE COAL FIRED PLANTS!! Kyoto CO2 emmisions would be achieved and I promise to grant 25% of my Nobel Peace Prize to Free Republic!

[fso301]

Well, we'll see but I hope this works

The LED lights are nice. One downside of their dramatically reduced power consumption is increased ice loading. Those big incandescent heater bulbs help reduce ice loads in wintertime.

[Spktyr]

The city of Flower Mound, TX has been using them for a while, and there are bulbs available for in-home use. The problem with the home version as opposed to the industrial one is that they all have a blue-white glow; not a problem for streetlights or outdoors illumination, but most people find it objectionable in a house.

[dragnet2]

I prefer to see HID lighting for streetlights, as it’s brighter for not much more power expenditure than LEDS

Brighter? See #20.

Ya ever notice that the cities that are lit up the brightest, with tens of thousands of street lights, have the most crime?

[Spktyr]

Actually, the LED ones are much better in that respect - their light is softer and far more directional.

[dearolddad]

Sounds like a city administrator is getting a kickback.

No! No! they are going to cut taxes by the amount of money that the LED's will save the tax payers./s

[decimon]

With LEDs and other emerging technologies we begin to get to the low voltage/wattage arena where alternative energy sources become much more feasible.

Straight DC lighting, separate from the AC grid, sounds good. 12 volt? 24 volt? Whatever, it might well indeed be powered from alternative sources and be near hazard free in terms if electrocution and fires.

[Spktyr]

You ever notice that in places that are very well lit, the most crime happens in places that aren’t? See: Central Park, NY, NY.

[Smittie]

I'd be happy to use LEDs in my home if that is feasible.

They're still pretty expensive for home use, but give them a few more years.

[dragnet2]

You ever notice that in places that are very well lit, the most crime happens in places that aren’t? See: Central Park, NY, NY.

Hmmm

You seem to be suggesting there is more crime in Central Park due to lack of bright lights, than the rest of NY.

I'd like to see your statistics for that.

I can tell you in places like LA, there is no Central Park, and the places that are lit up the most, have the most crime.

Please foward the link, showing more crime in the park, than the rest of NY.

Thanks!

[taxed2death]

“and the life expectancy of LED bulbs should be decades, not months or years.”

I wish.

I figured I’d “do the right thing” and install two screw in LED lights to illuminate a motorcycle in my shop window at night. I paid $49.00 for each one. They lasted about 5 weeks.

Back to fluorescent lights for me.

On another note...I bought a high end flashlight similar to a MAG-LITE...it had LED’s in place of the krypton bulb. One by one the LED’s failed....those lights do NOT take any degree of rough handling, unlike what they replaced.

Back to the MAG-LITE brand for me

[Phsstpok]

Probably on the AC grid for now with voltage converters in the current fixtures. Going forward there’s lots of options. Just look at the catalog items from places like Hammecher Schlimmer (sp?) with all of the free standing solar powered LED lighting for gardens and yards. The ones they sell are first generation stuff with relatively low output, but they also are cheap enough to be consumer items. There’s a lot more stuff out there that is going to change how this works.

[mysterio]

blue-white glow

Good, it will be like the 70s lights again. In the 80s, all the towns and highways switched to those pinkish-orange lights. I hate those things.

[null and void]

but HID lights are relatively expensive. LED street lights have been showing up in the Dallas area for a few years now.

Is the color "better" than monochromatic low pressure sodium?

[reagan_fanatic]

All the street lights in my city were replaced with LED's about a year ago. Very, bright - almost hurts the eyes at night.

I do wonder, though, how they plan on dealing with ice, as the heat from the old bulbs would keep the lenses clear. My first thought was that they might install heaters on the lights, but wouldn't that erase any energy cost savings?

[Spktyr]

It depends on what you mean by “better”.

It’s a blue/white/gray sort of light. It washes out most colors, tends to make things look a bit ghostly.

On the other hand, at least it doesn’t make everything look bilious yellow like sodium vapor lights do...

[PAR35]

LED street lights have been showing up in the Dallas area for a few years now.

Where. I've seen lots of traffic signals, but no street lights.

[Spktyr]

Only if the heaters were turned on most of the time. If they’re used only when needed, they’d still get a net power savings.

They might even get a net power savings with the heaters on - a modern heating element can be significantly more efficient than a lightbulb.

[Spktyr]

Flower Mound has a lot of them, so does Allen in some places. Richardson’s playing with them, Plano has *one* (not sure why they bothered with it, because it’s on the other side of a standard from a regular one), and Dallas has twelve scattered around the city.

[null and void]

Manufacturers have new phosphors formulations that give the options of blue-white, pure-white and warm-white output. They are starting to trickle into the market place.