Anchorage, Alaska To Install 16,000 LED Streetlights
Another win for LED bulbs: Anchorage, Alaska plans to replace 16,000 streetlight fixtures—a quarter of all the streetlight fixtures in the city—with LEDs. The new streetlights will use 50% less energy than current fixtures, leading Anchorage to potential savings of $360,000 each year. The city has invested $2.2 million in the plan.
Since Anchorage has 85 days a year with less than 8 hours of sunlight, energy efficiency initiatives are critical to the city’s survival. With other programs currently in the works, they’re on the right track.
Cree, a US-based LED component manufacturer, started the LED City program in 2007. The initiative is designed to test the economic, environmental, and usage benefits of LED lighting in cities around the world.
Other cities that have already committed to the LED City program include Raleigh, North Carolina; Toronto, Ontario; Tianjin, China, and Torraca, Italy.
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What a great idea!
I’m going to miss the phrase “incandescent glow”
Great post.
We’ve written about the same issue a couple of times now, originally here, http://www.dumpitinthepump.com/index.php/environment/burning-lights-burning-energy-burning-planet/
Sounds like a step in the right direction to use LED lights in major cities’ street lights. CREE mentions environmental benefits, but obviously only related to reduced air pollution.
I wonder if the best strategy is to just turn more lights OFF at night. This would reduce air pollution, and help reduce light pollution.
Sam - I think turning lights off at night is definitely the best strategy, but getting people to agree to that would certainly be a feat (at least until our energy situation becomes even more dire).
Agreed. Even just reducing the qty of street lights we have lit would help. I don’t think our energy situation will become dire anytime soon…
I would prefer to see streets not be lit. We don’t need the light pollution or the power usage.
Will the LED’s burn hot enough to melt the snow that will accumulate on the lights? Will they have to pay someone to clean the lights?
Turning off the lights during the night time would be a bad idea. We only get about 8 hours of sunlight during the winter months. Add in winter conditions with no street lighting, tow truck drivers would have a field day.
I think this is a bad idea the cost saving when taking in to account the initial investments is minimal. Rememeber LED’s especially of white light type don’t last forever rough life span is 10 years. Also what about all the extra materials in manufacturing and wiring together the LED’s not to mention the power regulating circuitry. Surely this adds up to less environmentally friendly.
“energy efficiency initiatives are critical to the city’s survival.”
I don’t think street lights are going to bankrupt a state that’s so rich it has no income tax, no sales tax in Anchorage, and pays every citizen around $2000 a year just for living here. You make it sound like we’re barely scraping by.