The Hows And Whens Of LED Lighting
It is hard to imagine an urban city of the future that does not employ LED lighting. While larger cities have been slower to adopt the technology, small cities such as Detroit, Oakland and Pittsburgh are installing LEDs at an accelerated pace. Earlier this week, US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz visited Detroit, Michigan to commend the city on its commitment to LED lighting. LED lights are a godsend to cities like Detroit that are looking to rebuild and thinking about long-term strategies to that end. Economically-troubled cities like Detroit might hesitate to invest in a more expensive technology, but those who are committed to long-term growth will more than break even over the lifespan of those LEDs.
Even the federal government appears to be charmed by the advantages of LEDs. The White House is introducing a program by which 5 US cities will get financial assistance to invest in upgrading their existing lighting infrastructure. Perhaps it should be taken as a sign of good faith that the Obama Administration replaced the old bulbs in the lamps on the Mall with LEDs. These types of upgrades ought to be encouraged by right and left wing politicians. Not only do they consume less, they are also more fiscally responsible.
The economic sensibility of LEDs is catching the eyes and ears of governments at the local, national and international level. Across the pond, some English municipalities are embracing light-emitting diodes. English schools like the Business Academy Bexley are taking advantage of the savings offered by LED lighting fixtures over traditional styles. The London public school will save nearly 34,000 USD each year that the LED system is in place.
Beyond just the operational savings, the school is saving even more by the installation of adaptive controllers. These automatic controllers detect the amount of natural light and raise or lower the indoor lights accordingly.
Developments in cities such as Pittsburgh, Oakland and Detroit could see even greater savings by pairing adaptive controllers with design that encourages natural light. This symbiotic relationship between technology and design will benefit up-and-coming cities.
Inner city lighting will benefit most directly from LED lighting solutions. The city of Oakland, CA is on the verge of upgrading more than 25,000 street lights with scalable LED light fixtures. This move will simplify inventory and maintenance discrepancies. The variability in brightness (3,000 to 20,000lm) means that these lights can be applied on busy traffic corridors as well as quiet residential neighborhoods.
Though outright bans of incandescent light bulbs might sound like something that would generate controversy, there has been surprisingly little. The cities that have adopted LED technology thus far have tended to be progressively-minded cities. The economic incentives for cities considering LED infrastructure are great enough that politics can't really have much effect. So join me on the path to the future. The path is clear; lit by LEDs.
Pittsburgh LED Lighting Fixtures Working With US Cities Pittsburgh LED Manufacturers Illuminating US Cities
