Cities realize advantages of LEDs

June 25, 2008
The LED street light demonstration in the city of Oakland highlighted many of the benefits that LED lighting can bring to municipalities, writes Kevin Orth.

As municipalities and businesses look for ways to control energy costs and reduce their carbon footprint, they are beginning to realize that lighting is not a fixed expense, and that innovation will be the agent for change. Recognizing these benefits, the city of Oakland, California, set out to study the real-world effects of LEDs on its own streets.

Project leaders from Oakland teamed up with the Emerging Technologies program at Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), a utility company, to find solutions to help curb the city’s annual $4 million energy and maintenance bill for streetlights. The project leaders approached the US Department of Energy (DOE) to work with its Solid State Lighting (SSL) program, a national initiative to implement energy-efficient commercial lighting projects in local communities.

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This article was published in the May/June 2008 issue of LEDs Magazine.

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