Between 2008 and 2013, energy usage by the City of Los Angeles dropped from 190 million kW a year to 110 million kW, and energy costs dropped from $16 million to $8.8 million. At a time when utility costs continue to rise, this is an astounding change, and it’s all due to the replacement of obsolete street lighting with LED technology.
LA’s Bureau of Street Lighting launched this four-year retrofit of 140,000 lights in 2009. A design based on thorough product testing was key to its success. Of the 244 LED units that requested evaluation, 84 met minimum requirements, 72 were actually installed at the site to be tested, and 20 were approved. The city performed eight cycles of six-month tests, evaluating for such factors as illumination, luminance, uniformity ratio, color temperature, brightness, power consumption, power factor, harmonic distortion, remote dimming/controls, and ease of installation.
Interestingly enough, the economics of LED retrofits improved during the course of the project. From 2009 to 2012, the average price of an LED fixture went from $432 to $245, the warranty went from 5 to 7 years, and its life went from 80,000 hours to 150,000 hours. The longer life means lower maintenance costs, in addition to all these other benefits:
- Directional light source, dimmable, with improved uniformity
- Reduced light pollution
- House side shields
- Small size, lightweight
- Minimal end of life landfill waste, no mercury
- Instant on, no warm-up period.
- White light, improved color rendering (helping to curtail burglaries, car theft and other street crime)
This last point is amply illustrated by the following before-and-after photos that were shown in a webinar recently presented by the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting.
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