A quick Google search will show you that cities everywhere are starting to realize the cost savings in switching from legacy street lamps (old high-pressure sodium or metal halide) to LED street lights. What were once pilot-test programs are now full-fledged, citywide mandates.

Since LED lights traditionally use from 1/3 to 1/2 the power of comparable legacy lamps, the math is pretty straightforward. The benefits? Well, I can’t say it any better than the city of Boston …

Improved Lighting Quality and Public Safety Benefits

LEDs provide better, clearer, and more consistent light quality that makes Boston’s streets safer through:

  • Fewer streetlight outages as LEDs have a life expectancy of 15 years, compared to 5-6 years of mercury vapor streetlights.
  • A truer white light quality, which leads to better color rending, allowing colors to seem more natural.
  • Minimization of light trespass onto homes and businesses by the “aiming” of LED fixtures.
  • More consistent distribution of light resulting in fewer dark spots.  Traditional light sources typically provide too much light in the area directly under the pole. This ensures that the outer areas surrounding the pole are well lit. Light from each LED can be guided with secondary optics to spread the light more evenly and ensure clearer, consistent lighting at all distances from the pole.

Reduced Costs and Environmental Impacts

  • Up to 60 percent decrease in energy use and carbon emissions from LED lamps.
  • LED lamps last up to three times longer than traditional streetlights, reducing replacement costs significantly.

Isn’t about time your community invested in an essential aspect of modern living that has proven itself over the past decade? I think so. You owe it to your taxpayers to save costs with this kind of risk-free update. Its a quick, effective way to show your management means business!