Comparison in life, I guess, is inevitable.
Hey, even if there’s a tiny bit of vanity bragging about Chapel Hill – “look how smart I am to live in the Southern slice of Heaven” – I probably indulge in it as much as anyone else. Folks brag about how progressive, sensitive to civil liberties, environmentally conscious our Town is in spite of examples to the contrary.
For instance, not too long ago Council member Kleinschmidt suggested Wilson and Rocky Mount were not quite up to Chapel Hill standards yet those communities underwrite more than a hundred hands-on arts programs and have built facilities to support the arts in general. On the other hand, progressive Chapel Hill’s one hands-on arts program teeters on the brink of extinction.
Civil liberties? Chapel Hill leads the way much of the time with the occasional incredible lapse.
Environmentally conscious? Many times with, again, some unfortunate glaring exceptions.
Besides noting Council’s leadership faux pas, Jim Ward recently pointed that even the simplest of energy saving efforts – using efficient light fixtures at Town Hall – never get very far.
Raleigh, though, is making a bold commitment to reduce energy and save some bucks in the process
Last week, the City of Raleigh announced a plan to possibly use light emitting diodes (LED’s) to light city streets throughout Raleigh.
Although more expensive initially, compared with regular lights, LED’s last much longer and use much less electricity. According to city, some LED’s may last as much as 20 times longer than regular incandescent lights.
At a city hall news conference on Friday, Mayor Meeker and the CEO of Triangle-based LED maker Cree, Inc. announced a partnership to perform a cost-benefit analysis to possibly replace as many city lights as possible with LED’s.
The city says that the mayor hopes that the “LED City” initiative will serve as a model for other cities that are considering implementing energy-efficient measures.
“The City of Raleigh is willing to set the pace and invite other municipalities to join in developing energy-efficient civic centers,” Cree CEO Swoboda said. “This leading edge effort is undoubtedly an important driver in LED adoption within the United States.”
Raleigh Chronicle, February 19, 2007
I own shares in Cree. That said, they have a great product that, at least I think, will shake up the world one day.
Raleigh Mayor Meeker said that it is “sound fiscal and environmental stewardship” to investigate the application of LED’s “as broadly as possible.”
The analysis on how LED’s can be used will be performed over the next 18 months, says the city.
In his comments, Mayor Meeker said that there may be “substantial potential savings from converting the City’s more than 33,000 streetlights to LEDs.”
According to the city, Raleigh spends more than $4.2 million annually for electricity to power the streetlights and estimates that 30 percent of its energy costs are for lighting.
According to the city, Raleigh electric provider Progress Energy says the floor equipped with LED lights will use over 40 percent less energy than the standard lighting system and will actually provide better lighting.
Raleigh Chronicle, February 19, 2007
Fixing Chapel Hill’s policy of using inefficient, poorly sited, streetlight fixtures kick started my life as a local concerned citizen. Six years ago, and occasionally since, I’ve asked Council to revise our current lighting policies, direct Duke Power to install more efficient fixtures and adopt the standards developed by light pollution experts for the International Dark-Sky Association.
Better, longer lasting lighting that operates much more efficiently at a cheaper cost when amortized over its extended lifetime.
Seems like an easy decision to me. We should take Raleigh’s invitation to participate.
LEDs will be the future in auto lighting. To hear talks from OEMs and lighting companies, and see examples of lightint systems…. attend the 3rd Automotive Lighting Design & Technologies conference, hosted by my company IQPC,,,,,May 21-23 2007 in dearborn MI. SEATING is LIMITED……contact me for a flyer and registration information…..Anthony Barbuto, Delegate rep for IQPC, anthony.barbuto@iqpc.com……
Don’t accept what the N&O says about the difference in energy efficiency. The comparisons in energy consumption between LED and CFLs are close to equal. Raleigh’s current parking deck project is comparing LEDs with low-sodium fixtures. The lighting is much better and safer with LEDs and the maintenance costs are much less so a life cycle cost analysis weighs in favor of LEDs even if they aren’t much more efficient. That said how efficiency is measured differs between fluorescents, low sodium, etc. and LED since LEDs gradually lose brightness but rarely fail completely.
Terri, the efficiency and performance have improved greatly. As I noted above, I’m a Cree investor – I get notices like the below because of that:
A bit of a PR piece but the underlying tech is improving and, from what I’ve read, easily surpasses the existing “efficient” mercury lamps.
From the EPA
You’re right about high pressure fixtures being better. I was pushing the heck out of moving to them 6 6-7 years ago (during my attempts to fix my one streetlight I discovered how crappy our streetlights were – high glare, inefficient, light polluting, etc.)
Now the LEDs are better than competitive – I’m going to push for them…
The best uses of LED’s right now are for visual indication – where the brightness of the source is the visual task. Traffic lights and automobile lighting is a great example. LED’s have a long, long way to go before they can be successfully utilized for architectural or roadway lighting – lighting systems that direct light onto a surface. As for the metric of “lumens per watt,” white LED’s are gaining on fluorescent and metal halide, but are not comparable yet. And the issue raised by Terri about LED’s never burning out is a huge obstacle right now. As a professional lighting designer, I can’t risk an underlit condition in 15 years due to “lamp lumen depreciation.” The jury is in – if the system doesn’t provide IESNA lighting levels, the designer and Owner are liable for any accidents (or worse) that occur. End of story there. A few manufacturer’s are including a timer that shuts down the system after a certain number of hours based on the theoretical curve of lumen depreciation. That solves the problem but at the expense of the best characteristic of the LED – long long life.
Also please understand the embodied energy of LED’s is very very high. LED’s are manufactured in a “clean room” which requires high amounts of energy to filter the air. Arsenic and other highly damaging materials are used in the production, and most are shipped across the Pacific Ocean from China. Oh, and when the are finally retired from use, the LED’s and their associated circuit boards are electronic waste.
The best solution today is to use ceramic metal halide lamps for exterior lighting (mounted in the proper luminaire, of course.) White light, good optical control, good lumen maintenance, and reasonable life.
Thanks Craig. Are you familiar with RTP’s Cree Research? They produce high lumen, efficient LEDs using a gallium arsenide substrate. Part of the appeal of LED in Chapel Hill is having a local supplier (who, I believe I read either in their proxy statements or in a PR piece, plan to recycle their products). If they do recycle that does take care of part of the e-waste stream.
You’re a lighting expert, maybe you can illuminate (sorry, I’m a terrible punster) us on the halide degradation curve. Someone told me that halides don’t degrade smoothly over time and that in their end of life they can actually consume more electricity than when they were properly functioning. I took this statement with a tiny grain of salt – is there anything to this?
Also, as a lighting professional, are you familiar with the International Dark Skies initiative. I took several runs at getting their recommendations merged with our current lighting ordinances (so far to no avail).
I’ve been around Chapel Hill long enough to remember seeing the Milky Way from the Downtown-side of North Street! Now I have to jump through hoops to get decent views through our Celestron.
One of the problems with using metal halides is the slow degradation of light intensity over time. From walking around on campus, designers are specifying higher output lights to achieve ‘average’ output over time as a result of the degradation.
I know you own stock in Cree Will, but I’ve been working fairly closely with them for the past several months and they are not vendors. They partner with fixture vendors who handle the sales, marketing, and tech support.