StreetLightNews

Replacing standard street light with new high output LEDs will save 50% energy and they will last more than 10 years. They are maintenance-free, contain no hazardous material such as gases or mercury, and they are dark sky compliant, meaning that their light is focused on the area where it is needed, and not wasted into the night sky.
At the upcoming American Public Works Association event in San Antonio, September 9-12, these new LEDs will be showcased by the company inventing the new effective street light - IntenCity Ligthing.
The new high output LED uses only 75 watts, but produces 3200 lumens. See more here…

The Canadian company, Pure-Tek Earth, has designed a solar powered LED street light where the switch, converter, controller, the wiring and the solar battery fit into a metal box that is mounted on the individual street light pole.
Pure-Tek Earth describes on their website how the solution can save thousands of dollars in electrical costs and save the world from one ton of CO2 emission per light, per year.
There is no mentioning of centralized control of the street lights, so it is unclear whether this is an option. Also, the ROI is not described, perhaps because it is unreasonably long? Equipping every single street light with both solar batteries, controllers, switches, etc. must be rather costly.

Lighting up a city’s streets is typically the single most significant energy expenditure of the city. And only few areas require the same amount of maintenance and operation resources.
With centralized control, savings of 8-10% can be achieved, but the real savings occur when the city switches to dimming. Studies and numerous experiences show that savings of 30% and above are reached, giving a pay back time of just a few years.
Follow this link to learn more about dimming technologies by e.g. power reduction and electronic ballasts.

The Danish company, Amplex, has released a report stating that savings of 25-30% have been achieved by centralizing street light control in a major Turkish city.
The report describes a pilot project where modules are installed in five control cabinets at representative locations in the city. Parts of the savings come from centralizing control, but the most significant savings are generated through dimming at off-peak hours. Two dim levels were established, and the lights went back full on early in the morning.
Even though the pilot showed savings of up to 32%, Amplex expects the savings to be even bigger when burn hours are optimized and when dimming is set earlier in e.g. industrial areas and on weekends. Additionally, savings are expected on maintenance and proactive bulb change. Based on the indications from the pilot, a very low ROI of 1-2 years can be expected.
Read the full executive report here…

In order to increase the safety of night-time driving on UK motorways, and additionally lower CO2 emissions, the Lancashire County Council decided to equip a stretch of motorway M65 with a dimmable lighting system controlled by traffic flow. The system can be dimmed with up to 30%, and is equipped with an intelligent controller and a two-way remote communication facility. Additionally, it offers individual control of luminaires, event reports and constant monitoring functions of the installation.
The project came about when lighting fixtures at a specific stretch of the motorway had to be renewed. The previous installation was controlled by photocells mounted at each feeder pillar, switching the lights on and off through a contactor. The lighting levels were constant throughout the night. The luminaires in the old installation were also emitting excess light beyond the boundaries of the highway, contributing to light pollution in the surrounding area.A replacement plan was implemented in order to link the lighting level to the traffic flow, reduce the power consumption and to monitor possible lamp defects.
Through already existing traffic counters which continuously monitor the amount of cars on the motorway, the lighting levels are adjusted to preset levels depending on the traffic flow.With more than 3,000 cars per hour, the lighting level was kept full on. With 1,500 to 3,000 cars per hour, the lights were dimmed to 75, and with less than 1,500 cars, lights were dimmed to 50%.
The new luminaires allow for ‘soft’ switching when shifting from one level to another, avoiding sudden changes in the lighting levels. Additionally, traffic safety is judged to be increased because dimming, opposed to e.g. turning off every other light as a savings measure, provides protection from a flickering or strobing effect.The completed pilot has shown that not only has the stretch of motorway gained better lighting quality and improved control, CO2 emissions are lowered 274 tons to 129 tons through a combination of the dimming, traffic flow control and the new luminaires. Read more here…

In Warwickshire County, UK, the local newspaper reported last year that parts of the county’s street lights would be switched off in the early morning hours in order to save money. The county’s annual street lighting bill of £1.5 million could be reduced by £650,000, and this has sparked excitement among local politicians because the savings can be measured immediately. But the full switch off has resulted in protests from local inhabitants who believe that it will reduce street safety and lead to an increase in crime.
The debate has caused the county to support a proposal for a dimming pilot project instead of the full switch off. Comments from the councillors were mixed and revealed a great deal of scepticism. A Warwickshire council spokesman is quoted for saying that the cost of installing and operating a dimming system will be greater than any reduction in energy costs, but does state that this will change if the process becomes widely used.
Though the solution may be new in some areas, it is very widespread in others, and can be solidly backed by several years of excellent results, significant savings and return on investment of 1-2 years. Dimming solutions do have an initial cost, but this will quickly be outweighed by the savings on electricity and maintenance – without significant reductions in the street light quality. It seems bizarre that there are still serious considerations about lowering the street light quality through complete switch off when there are an abundance of intelligent street light providers offering well-tested and mature technologies.

In New Zealand, as in several other countries around the world, the operator of the street lights is not necessarily owner of the cables that supply power to the poles.
Take Rotorua, for example. While the Rotorua District Council is responsible for maintaining the poles and the light bulbs, the cables supplying power to the network is owned by a power company.
Due to a disagreement over areas of responsibilities, a simple repair of the street lights in a particular stretch of the road took over eight weeks. This is often the case when the operator and manager of the street lights is not also the owner of the entire infrastructure for the power network. Also, it makes it significantly more complicated to install central control systems.
It is surprising that the council is not working harder on establishing a method for optimized street light control. The single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from local councils (30-50%), and the prospect of significant energy savings combined with an improved quality of light should have them clapping their hands. Read the article here…  

The city of Ann Arbor expects to spend $640,000 on new LED street lights which are expected to pay for themselves over the next 4.2 years in energy savings.

In a press release from Philips, their new energy-efficient LEDs, CosmoPolis, are praised as a breakthrough in reducing the environmental impact of street lights. The LEDs emit white light and are said to provide greater safety through increased visibility. They have been installed in a residential area and are expected to decrease power consumption by 10% compared to high-pressure sodium lamps, without compromising the lighting performance.
Compared to conventional street lights, the new installation provides a better, whiter light which can be pointed more directly to the streets, avoiding pollution of night skies. So far, CosmoPolis has been adapted by 50 European cities.
While Philips boasts about the fast payback of the LEDs, there is no information about the control of the street lights. At one time, Philips put a lot of time and effort into a centralized control system for street lights, however, such a system is not mentioned in the press release.A centralized solution makes even more sense to install after LEDs have become prevalent. LEDs typically last for 12 years when being lit for 11-12 hours per day. With high reliability, bulb changes can be based on the number of burn hours. A centralized system can easily keep track of the amount of hours the street lights have been turned on. Read more here…

The LEDs that are being tested at Manchester University have shown to last four times longer and use less than half the electricity of conventional lamps. The county council of York is positive towards the improved light source and see great potential in being able to half their annual £600,000 electricity bill on street lighting. More information here…