LightSavers LED street-lighting pilot project yields encouraging results (MAGAZINE)

The LightSavers project of the Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF) has collected a year of data related to a pilot installation of LED-based street lights in the town of Caledon, Canada. The LightSavers group has measured the optical performance of the solid-state lighting (SSL) installation and existing metal-halide (MH) lights on a biweekly basis. The pilot has documented an advantage for the LED lights in terms of illuminance, energy savings, uniformity, and lumen depreciation, but the greater cost of the SSL luminaires yielded a relatively lengthy projected payback of 14 to 18 years. Still, the falling price of LED lighting and the increasing efficiency of luminaires will continue to drive down the payback period.

The Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF) created the LightSavers (www.lightsavers.ca) project to accelerate the use of advanced lighting and adaptive controls to reduce both energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions. Subsequently, The Climate Group licensed the LightSavers trademark from TAF and established a LightSavers program (www.theclimategroup.org/programs/lightsavers) to purse LED-lighting and smart controls projects globally. Three of the TAF pilot projects, including Caledon, are part of the global Climate Group program. The global program allows The Climate Group to compare results from pilots around the world and distribute results globally as well.

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This article was published in the February 2011 issue of LEDs Magazine. To read the full version of this article, please visit our magazine page, where you can download FREE electronic PDF versions of all issues of LEDs Magazine. You can also request a print copy of LEDs Magazine (available by paid subscription) and sign up for our free weekly email newsletter.