Seattle utility leads national LED street light effort

[wpsedgwick]

Source: Green Technology Daily

The U.S. Department of Energy announced that Seattle City Light, Seattle's publicly owned power utility, has been selected to lead a national effort to guide municipalities in evaluating light emitting diode (LED) street lights.

The Municipal Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium will collect, analyze, and share information and lessons learned about LED street-lighting demonstrations to facilitate the adoption of this energy efficiency technology nationwide.

Read more: http://www.greentechnologydaily.com/energy/684-seattle-utility-leads-national-led-street-light-effort

[Pab Sungenis]

1. LED bulbs run too cold in streetlights.

When there's snow build-up, they don't generate enough heat to melt it off. LED traffic lights in snowy climates are outright dangerous.

[truthisfreedom]

2. Big LEDs generate a bit of heat. It's all a matter of how the heat is dissipated.

This is a great idea... it's just a matter of time before the designs are perfected.

[RC]

6. You're confusing traffic lights with street lights.

Anyway in Fargo ND, we use LED traffic light and we don't have a problem. We were not aware of any problems till some city in a milder climatic had a story about having a snow problem. Since then - we still don't have problem.

And as for the LED street lights, they face down and therefore snow can not cover them. Jeeze people get a clue. Look at the picture in the article or go outside and look at a real streetlight.

[hlthe2b]

3. They will result in dark outs, in areas where snow is common...

The don't get hot enough to melt the snow and I'm not sure how that gets addressed...

[SnowCritter]

5. The LEDs will probably be protected

by some sort of glass covering. If this is made from something like Pyrex, then it might be feasible for the glass to be heated by an external source. I'm thinking that it would "lock" into a metal ring that could be heated electrically. This could be controlled by a thermostat so that it only heats when necessary.

[Yavapai]

9. Two thoughts,

First thought: we could use some dark outs. then maybe you could see the stars when you look up.

Second thought: To use inefficient electricity to warm the lights, would erase the entire reason to use LEDs, energy savings.

I live in very rural Arizona, thirty miles from the nearest streetlight and you can see the stars and really appreciate them here. But
when looking toward the northwest, we can see the glow lights of Las Vegas 170 miles away. Looking to the southeast, we can see the
glow of the lights of Phoenix, 200 miles away. I think street lights are a huge waste of energy/money. Come see the grand Canyon in the
daytime, then at night look up and see the Milky Way.

[uppityperson]

7. They are talking Seattle, where that much snow is uncommon. Good place to test them & they face down

[foxfeet]

4. Substantial snowfall occurs infrequently in Seattle,

although we can get big accumulations every few years. Probably a good place to test the technology.

[nolabear]

8. I'll be darned. I should read the local news more often. Sounds like a good idea.

As for snow, not generally a problem. We're very temperate for the most part.

[Festivito]

10. I like 'em. I can tell if they're on even when the sun is behind me.

... Unlike the single bulb.

They may not melt snow, but when snow is that nasty, any amount of light getting through glows nicely. Make sure you have some near the top of the hood.

[David__77]

11. Lots of people don't like the color rendering.

I'm not sure it's really a safety thing so much as a nuisance to some people though. But it's definitely true that, since compact fluorescents are going away as an energy efficiency measure, LEDs are something the utilities will be pushing for many applications.

[Festivito]

12. As long as red, yellow and green are not confused with each other.

I can't imagine the hue making a difference.