LED Streetlights Save Money And Lives

What an improvement LED streetlights make when compared to high pressure sodium streetlights. Huge energy savings and greatly reduced carbon emissions are often sited as the main reasons businesses and governments choose to install LED streetlights. To me, two other equally important reasons are an elimination of maintenance costs and vastly superior light quality.

This story from the www.thisisbath.co.uk website tells about how the Bath & North East Somerset Council in the U.K. is testing 71 LED streetlights on a local highway. The lights are expected to save taxpayers £4,500 per year in lighting costs and reduce carbon emissions by 25 ton a year. What I am most impressed with though is the 60,000 hour expected lifespan and daylight quality of the lights. If the lights are operated for an average of 10 hours per night, the LED streetlights will last over 16 years with no maintenance! "The lights have a lifespan of around 60,000 hours meaning that maintenance costs and the time that lighting replacement crews spend on the highway are both reduced." said Bath & North East Somerset Service Manager for Highways and Parking Kelvin Packer.

To get an idea of how much better the light quality is with LED streetlights, take a look at the before and after pictures below. The first picture is the roadway illuminated by the old streetlights. It is hard to distinguish colors making everything look yellow and dark with a lack of contrast.

The second picture is the same stretch of highway after the LED streetlights were installed. The colors are restored giving the highway a brighter and safer appearance.

The benefits of LED streetlights are obvious. Greatly reduced energy costs, reduced carbon emissions, reduced maintenance costs and daylight quality light. As budgets continue to shrink and energy costs continue to rise they will become very popular with governments around the globe. LED streetlights will replace older, less efficient forms of streetlights reducing lighting and maintenance costs to taxpayers, eliminating tons of harmful carbon emissions and improving visibility ad safety for drivers.

Waterfront property owners can reduce outdoor lighting costs and improve safety around there docks by installing underwater LED lights. Underwater LED lights not only improve visibility when docking your boat at night, they improve visibility on your dock, beautify your waterfront and draw fish to your dock.