US cities focus on centralized streetlight control
Thursday, April 17th, 2008
A recent article in Washington Post describes how streetlights are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. The newspaper quotes Robert Grow, director of government relations at the Greater Washington Board of Trade, for estimating an annual reduction of 1.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions if the 10 largest metropolitan areas of the US switch to a centralized solution and LED streetlights. This is equivalent to taking 212,000 cars off the roads and save an additional 90 million taxpayer dollars annually.
In his report on streetlight savings, Grow recommends a centrally controlled streetlight solution with dimming and optimized maintenance functionalities.
According to the Post, Grow was surprised that more hasn’t been done already to improve the efficieincy of streetlight.
As previously described in this blog, the most efforts have been made in the town of Ann arbor, Mich. where all streetlights have been converted to LEDs.
Centralized streetlight solutions are offered by companies such as US-based Echelon with installations in e.g. Oslo, Norway, and Danish company Amplex with installations in e.g. Scandinavia, the United Arab Emirates and Asia.