Wednesday, August 31, 2011

LEDs, a good way to save money for municipalities.

Light-emitting diodes could shed new light on how municipalities can keep their streets bright at night and at the same time save some money. About 100 LED streetlights were installed a couple of years ago along Barringer Road in Ilion in coordination with Frankfort’s Fiberdyne Energy. For Ilion, using LEDs it’s a great potential for energy savings compared to other types of lighting.

It’s becoming more common nationwide for municipalities to turn to LED streetlights in order to cut down on energy costs, and many local municipalities are planning to install LED streetlights in the near future.

They expects that Ilion is reducing its streetlight costs on Barringer Road by about half by using the LEDs, which have a lifespan of about 10 years, so they also should reduce maintenance costs.

The National Lighting Product Information Program at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Lighting Research Center released a study earlier this year that tested LED streetlight products compared to conventional methods, said Leora Radetsky, lead research specialist and author of the study. On this study demonstrate that depending on the specific product, LEDs showed a range of 10 to 24 percent in energy savings versus standard lighting, but the most common savings was 10 percent.

LEDs, however, had higher costs for the entire lifecycle because some required new poles to be installed and even those that didn’t had high installation costs for the fixtures.

In conclusion, for any municipalities considering purchasing LED streetlights, they recommend reviewing all the options because the costs, quality and energy savings can vary greatly.

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