LED Streetlights

Streetlights are an important public safety service that is expensive to maintain and consume a significant quantity on energy. Consequently, a number of U.S. cities, most notably Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, are embarking on programs to convert traditional street lights to light emitting diode (LED) lighting. These LED lighting systems are attractive because they:

• Do not consume as much electricity as standard lighting, and
• Have a significantly longer life span.

With a projected life span of 14 years, they can significantly reduce electric utility and customer costs. The market for LED street lighting is expanding and is projected to reach over $1 billion by 2013, expanding from their initial application as indicator lights in appliances and calculators to widespread use in applications ranging from small appliances to the largest skyscrapers. This article explores the reasons why it makes sense to apply the LED technology to streetlights, but do so in a balanced way, as there are some noted disadvantages.

Advantages of LED Streetlights

In addition to the longer life span of over 100,000 hours, LED streetlights offer numerous advantages over conventional ones. Specifically, they:

• Contain no toxic chemicals such as mercury
• Emit less heat
• Are more energy efficient, doubling the efficiency of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs)
• Generate more light per watt
• Reduce carbon emissions
• Require no warm up period
• Do not produce ultraviolet light – e.g. no bugs
• Can be dimmed or brightened based on motion

 Disadvantages of LED Streetlights

Despite these benefits, there are a number of challenges to LED street lights., Most notably, they:

• Only provide directional light so are limited to streetlights that are hanging or facing downward
• Are initially high in cost, generally in the range of $1,000 per streetlight as compared to $250 for a conventional one. In order to overcome this objection, education and outreach will be required to demonstrate the economics of long-term payback.
• Are not yet at the same brightness as a classic white light not able to produce all colors of the spectrum