Municipalities are Making The Smart Choice For LED Lighting Projects

The year 2020 is shaping up to be a big one for LEDs in general and LED roadway lighting in particular. This post takes a look at the reasons LED street light projects have been trending upward in popularity and will likely continue to do so in 2020.

More Efficient Lighting

According to the LED manufacturer GE Current, LEDs use roughly half as much energy as traditional light sources such as halogen, fluorescent, and incandescent bulbs. Additionally, because LEDs can be much more precisely aimed, there is less light—and therefore energy—wasted by bulbs that spray light in useless directions. These factors mean that in 2020 and beyond, LED street lighting can help municipalities cut down on their energy usage.

Longer Lifespans

Another advantage of LED street lighting is that they last much longer than old-school lighting solutions. According to one figure cited on HowStuffWorks, an LED light can enjoy a lifespan of up to 100,000 hours. For comparison’s sake, a calendar year has 8,760 hours in it. The end result for LED street lighting is that cities can spend less money and maintenance crews can spend less time on changing bulbs.

Smart Networks with Advanced Options

Smart LED street lighting is becoming more widespread in different cities, with great results. For instance, intelligent sensors can augment the efficiency of LED lights by turning them off when they are not needed. This can lead to huge cost savings for cities, some of which spend 50 percent of their annual energy budget on street lighting, according to Dan Evans of LEDs Magazine.

Less Heat

Traditional light sources are actually fairly bad at creating light but great at creating heat: According to GE Current, for example, incandescent lamps convert less than 10 percent of the power they use into light. The rest of the power is wasted as “infrared (IR) or radiated heat.” This can create a burning hazard. LEDs meanwhile, do not pose such a threat.

Widespread Adoption

The selling points of practical and decorative LED street lighting have convinced many cities to make the switch. For instance, Rochester recently passed a budget that included a plan to fully convert the city’s streetlights to LED technology in 2020, per the Med City Beat. Expect more cities to follow. 

For Municipal LED Street Lighting in California or Nevada, Contact Great Basin Lighting

Contact the professionals at Great Basin Lighting, a west coast outdoor LED lighting company, about how smart cell poles and municipal LED lighting projects can impact and improve everyday living.