New York City To Get LED Street Lighting
New York City’s Department of Transportation has tapped the Office for Visual Interaction for testing LED street lighting around the Big Apple. If successful, all of the city’s 300,000 street lamps could one day be made up of LEDs.
Of course, LEDs are just plain awesome! Their power consumption is much lower than that of standard bulbs. Heck, even lower than that of CFLs.
But the OVI contract doesn’t only replace the current high-pressure sodium lighting, but also introduces a whole new lamp pole as well. While I am a fan of LEDs, I am quite fond of the Gotham-styled lamp poles. Keep your paws off, OVI!
Okay, maybe the new poles aren’t so bad. The poles will be between four to six feet, and have up to 100 LEDs each. They will have four light sources per pole, and can create different light patterns. The light footprints can be tailored for parks, street corners or mid-block.
The city will begin testing with a mere six poles, and the testing period will end by fall of 2009. But even if the city approves the highly-efficient lamps, it’s likely they won’t roll out 300-thousand new lamp poles all at once.
Image: dbox
Whilst I am not a huge believer in this whole global warming thing, I am an incredibly frugal bastard. This will save tonnes of cash in the long run, and that is great for the taxpayers.
Post (GRD) great republican depression we will all be using LED lighting, and low volt DC solar/battery circuits to power them! Most “Zero running cost, Zero upkeep” survival shelters will be lighted for free, from stored solar power and LEDs. Once the back of the “status quo” has been broken, a cavalcade of radical and life-saving ideas will break forth as sensible and affordable alternatives and the “New American Dream” will bloom and flourish! Even the basic flashlight has been altered forever by LEDs already. Think what the pressures of the GRD will do to development and acceptance of LEDs!
Does anyone know what a typical sodium-lit streetlight costs/yr, and what the LED lit ones would cost/yr?
I hope that they finally concider getting rid of light pollution when designing those lamps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pollution
LED lights are great, but expensive
Since the output of the most powerful available LED’s really is not enough lumins for area lighting, yet, not without using thousands of diodes per lamp, this is a political, not a practical application. LED’s are O.K, for ornamental outdoor lighting, but are only practical for indoor use, for general lighting purposes. Preferably for smaller rooms, nothing big yet. You are not going to replace a 1000 watt, high output, sodium halide lamp, with a couple handfuls of diodes. There are extremely efficient lamps, like induction lighting out there, today, that can provide a great replacement now. I don’t think LED is up to this, yet except maybe some products that are still on the lab bench.
I think it is a bad, I live around the corner from the first city in north America to put them in and they are not that great. the problem with LED’s is they may be efficient but the eco foot print of their construction for it out weights the efficiency so whats the point. plus unlike regular bulbs they slowly burn out over years in the case of the lights they are given 19 years but before they get there they wont have enough light to light your path. so save the huge start up costs and invest in something better
David Rochlin:
A recent (2008) NSF energy audit document I read showed that achieving similar lighting output levels for street lights using LEDs vs. high pressure sodium resulted in a 64% energy consumption savings. These are upgrade units not entirely new poles as well. The cost to purchase and install was estimated at about $1000. They’re paying $0.40KWhr so the payback is quick.
Its not weather you believe in global warming or not. Its happening.
I don’t understand how people think of global warming like a religion i believe in this is, i dont belive in that.
Scientists look at facts, The Facts state there is global warming. What do you need to believe
Do you believe in god.
wheres the facts.
go learn some facts.
I’m excited to see this, and am researching ways to incorporate LED lighting into art.