City of Raleigh to celebrate street opening, show off LED street lights
It’s not often that thousands of people get together just to celebrate a street. But that’s exactly what will be happening Saturday in Raleigh, NC, when the city hosts a street celebration festival for Hillsborough Street. The “Live It Up” Street Opening Celebration is meant to unite neighbors, business owners, students and other Raleigh residents to salute the recently-renovated street. And while most eyes will probably be on the performers, beer garden and farmers market set up to celebrate, we lighting geeks will be looking up at the new LED street and pedestrian lights that have been installed.  LED street lights shine down on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh, NC, adjacent to North Carolina State University.
The city of Raleigh replaced the energy-wasting metal halide lights that used to line the street with energy-efficient LED lighting manufactured by BetaLED, a Wisconsin-based company that uses Cree LEDs in its lights. Here’s what got replaced:
In addition to saving energy and maintenance costs, the new LED lights have also improved visibility for pedestrians and drivers, says Bob Henderson, technical lighting consultant for Progress Energy, the city’s energy provider.
City officials had to jump through some hoops to get the LED street lights installed, including convincing the North Carolina Department of Transportation (which owns the road) that it was the right move. Raleigh’s Assistant City Manager Dan Howe talks about the process in this video: Howe says the city is going to continue to evaluate LED street lighting. “We’ve done a couple of little pilot projects and they were successful, but this is a major public corridor and it’s working,” Howe said. “So what we’re going to try to do from this point out is to test the viability of LED lighting in a variety of street light settings around the city: Residential street lights, commercial streets in industrial areas, commercial streets in downtown and some other retail areas.” Howe said the city still has a bit to learn about things like proper spacing of lights, the best height for the poles and more, but that these test installations will help the city determine some best practices before tackling even bigger street lighting projects.  The difference with the LED street lights on the right is obvious. The LED lights provide clean, white light compared to the orange high pressure sodium lights on the right. To see more examples of LED lighting in Raleigh, take a look at this Raleigh LED City tour. And for more information about Saturday’s Hillsborough Street celebration, which Cree is sponsoring, check out the schedule of events.
Switch your porch light to LED to keep the bugs away
One of the benefits we tout of LED lighting is that it doesn’t attract bugs. According to a number of web sources, it’s ultra-violet light that attracts bugs and with no U-V, LEDs should not be nearly as interesting to flying or hoping pests. I stopped leaving my front porch and outdoor garage lights on years back after becoming mortified by how buggy and webby (spiders figure out quick where flying bugs congregate) the front of my house was each morning. I’m lazy – I don’t have the inclination to clean up the façade of my house each morning. Last month, I decided to test out the “no bugs” theory for myself. I installed a good quality LED bulb in each of those two outdoor lights and waited for sundown. The first night wasn’t a fair test. Seems I drilled my sons on keeping the outside lights turned off a little too well… Sure enough, the second night and every night I have checked there seems to be no bugs flying around the lights. Following two weeks of travel (left the lights running,) no messy, buggy yuck had appeared on or around my front door or garage. One of my colleagues claims the same experience with LED camping lanterns. But before I could post this topic, I got challenged by one of our sales guys to test more than one type of LED light. So, this weekend I installed the Cree CR6™ recessed down light on my porch as one more no-bug trial… Here’s a link to a how-to-install the CR6 video in case you are curious. And, after two nights of having the BRIGHTEST porch in all of Durham (my assessment), I can still claim that LED lights do not attract bugs. However, the CR6 light is so bright that tractor-trailers were pulling into my drive in search of fuel. (I’m kidding, but I’m going back to a simple LED bulb in that socket as the CR6 light puts out far more light than I need for my porch) My advice: Switch your entryway lights to LED bulbs or lights. Your entryways will stay clear of flying bugs and webs. And, you’ll save a lot of energy. Sorry spiders…
New LED street lights installed in Bradenton Beach, Florida are sea turtle friendly
I used to live on a barrier island off the coast of South Carolina. And each May, the locals worked hard to teach tourists the importance of leaving lights off during loggerhead sea turtle nesting season. The “Keep Lights Out for Loggerheads” campaign would get so embedded in my mind that, like a catchy song on the radio, I sometimes found myself mumbling “Lights Out for Loggerheads” under my breath. What the islanders know that many tourists don’t realize is that artificial light can throw off loggerheads when they come ashore to deposit their eggs. Artificial light can also throw off loggerhead hatchlings because it can steer them away from the ocean. So when I found out the City of Bradenton Beach, Florida was installing LED street lights approved by the Florida Wildlife Commission as turtle-friendly, my heart sang a little. Located on Anna Maria Island along the Gulf of Mexico, the City of Bradenton Beach recently replaced 100-Watt high pressure sodium street lights with decorative 17-Watt LED fixtures along Gulf Drive, the city’s main thoroughfare.
The city’s new LED street lights by Beacon Products use amber LEDs, which are visible to us humans, but are nearly undetectable to sea turtles and other marine wildlife, according to Beacon. Combine that with special optics and a full-cutoff luminaire, and you have turtle-friendly and dark sky-friendly lighting. It’s still important for coastal residents and tourists to be mindful of their light usage during sea turtle nesting season. But we’re excited that LED lighting innovations are making it easier.
Come see us in Miami, Ann Arbor or Shanghai
We’ve got three more LED City Council Meetings on the calendar, including the first in China. Come join us in Miami, Ann Arbor or Shanghai. We’ve got a great group of speakers lined up for Oct. 1 at the Miami Art Museum. You’ll hear from the Cities of Raleigh and Ann Arbor, as well as Miami/Dade County. They share their experiences with LED lighting and their plans for deploying this energy efficient new lighting technology. You’ll also hear about some LED lighting incentive programs ONCOR is offering its customers in the Dallas area. Miami/Dade County is also sponsoring an energy-efficient lighting expo in the Miami Library building a few steps from the Art Museum so attendees can talk directly to LED lighting vendors throughout the day.
Postcard from LED City Council meeting in Welland, Ontario
I was in Welland, Ontario yesterday for the LED City Council meeting, where a variety of local officials and LED lighting gurus came together to share their experiences with other officials considering LED lighting for their cities or universities. Here are some pics of Welland LED City Council Meeting speakers in front of one of the city’s latest LED street light installs along with Cree Product Marketing Manager Paul Scheidt (in the black Cree T-shirt). The city’s new fixtures are from from EcoFit, BetaLED and Roadway Lighting.  
Has your city tried any creative financing deals for LED Lighting? Let us know
We’ve been upfront over the last few years that the purchase cost of LED lights is generally higher, sometimes a lot higher than traditional lights. This stumbling block slows the adoption of LED lighting and prevents cities from starting to reap the energy and maintenance costs they can realize with quality LED lights. While we can show significant energy savings and maintenance cost avoidance, cities are still struggling to find ways to fund their desired deployment of LED lights. I am now hearing from quite a number of firms and funds that have recently been formed to address this issue. There are for-profit and nonprofit firms and groups contacting cities and the LED City program to offer performance contracting and/or a wide range of financing options to help cities get the upfront funds they need to begin serious deployment of LED lighting in applications and installations that can offer attractive financial savings over the life of the fixtures. This is so new that we are all looking for proof points – financing deals that work. I’d like to know if your city is working with a third party to finance LED lighting and I’d like to share information about how the deal is structured is this blog so we can all start learning about what works for financing options and what doesn’t. Let me know what’s working for your city – post it here!
Durham, NC joins LED City program by installing LED lights in city’s oldest parking garage
In 1964, the city of Durham, NC, began construction on its first parking garage. The Corcoran Parking Garage is still heavily used more than 45 years later, providing daytime parking for downtown workers and evening parking for theater-goers at the Durham Performing Arts Center and even baseball fans at the nearby Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Renovations on the aging garage began last year, and are being wrapped up this month. Among the new features are 200 LED lighting fixtures, which dramatically improve visibility in the newly-painted garage. City officials say the new LED fixtures use only one-fifth of the energy consumed by the metal halide fixtures they replaced. At the 0:52 mark in this video, you’ll really notice the dramatic difference in lighting if you look at the contrast of the orange high pressure sodium streetlight glowing in front of the garage. As part of other renovations, the City of Durham is currently installing LED lighting in another downtown parking deck and has plans for yet another. The Bull City, as it’s affectionately called by locals, joined the LED City program last month, and plans to continue considering energy-efficient LED lighting as it renovates and constructs new buildings and structures. For a look at some original photos of the Corcoran Parking Garage as it was being built in 1964, check out this blog post on Endangered Durham.
A Bright Idea for America: CBS News features LED lighting
CBS News recently visited some of the top LED lighting manufacturers in the industry – including Cree – to discuss the demise of Thomas Edison’s light bulb and the rise of LED Lighting. The resulting 6-minute news package is packed with some good information about why CFLs aren’t the solution to the upcoming incandescent ban (many incandescent bulbs will be banned widely come 2014). If you’re not into video, you can read the CBS News story here.
Can you recommend some LED Christmas lights that perform well?
With the days getting longer and hotter it’s the perfect time to consider holiday decorating. Crazy talk, you say? Well, one of participants in the LED City program wants guidance on which LED strand lights (Christmas lights) perform best. My experience with LED lighting in the holiday and festive lighting application is not relevant. I bought LED strand lights for holiday decorations a couple years back but they were purple (on purpose) and I only used them one year and decided to purchase new white LED lights this year. I haven’t had enough different brands in use for long enough to weigh-in on this issue.  Photo by Flickr user amalthyz My community service offering on this is to recommend that you not buy purple lights. Period. I’ll give you mine if you persist. Seriously, considering weather, wear-and-tear for set-up and removal for storage, or ongoing climate issues if the lights are left in place year ‘round, this is a harsh application for tender little strands of LEDs. If you have some recommendations for solid performing holiday-type LED strand lights, please post them here. Thanks!
Cree to provide LED lighting for kitchens in new Habitat for Humanity homes
Cree LED lights will soon light up kitchens in thousands of homes built by Habitat for Humanity. Last month,Cree announced its three-year, $1.5 million pledge to Habitat for Humanity International to provide our newest LED downlight for the kitchens in all new Habitat homes built in the United States. Specifically we’ll be providing our CR6™ downlight, which is targeted to go to market this summer for about $60 each. This 10.5 Watt downlight is designed to last 50,000 hours, which means if homeowners use these lights four hours a day, they shouldn’t have to replace them for more than 30 years. We’re very excited about this pledge because it can help reduce electricity costs for low-income homeowners. Habitat for Humanity already works to build homes that are more sustainable and efficient, and the addition of LED lights will help these homes save more energy. In North Carolina, a Habitat homeowner should save almost $450 over five years by having the CR6 down lights installed instead of the currently-used halogens.* For a house in California, that jumps to nearly $600 in savings.* A couple of weeks ago, I got to visit a Habitat home being built in Durham, NC. We delivered two of the CR6 downlights. My boss climbed up on a ladder to show the crew how to install the lights. All he did was take the trim off the existing fixture, unscrew the energy-wasting Halogen light and screwed in the CR6. Since I filmed him doing it, I was able to time him, and it took him 28 seconds! But you’ll have to take my word for it, because I’m not sure he’s ready to make his YouTube debut quite yet. However, I also filmed the installation of the next CR6 by David Larkins, the construction director for Habitat for Humanity of Durham. I pulled him aside afterward to talk to him about the LED lights that were just installed. At the time he had no idea Cree was planning on putting these lights in kitchens at thousands of Habitat homes. Here’s what David had to say: “We try to make a house that’s really easy to maintain, and energy efficiency is part of that,” he said. “A lot of the energy-efficiency improvements that we do just make a home that is smarter and simpler to maintain.” Cree designed the CR6 specifically to make LED lighting more affordable for residential applications and we couldn’t think of a better residential application than inside homes for Habitat for Humanity. *We came to this conclusion by using a North Carolina electricity rate of 9.42 cents per kWh and a California rate of 15.69 cents per kWh. We calculated four lights turned on 6 hours a day. |
 Search
Archives
Categories
Pages
|
