LED Bulbs Bring Safety And Savings

The Windsor Police Department, the United Way and the Ford City Neighborhood Renewal program have teamed up to decrease crime and improve safety at night in the Ford City neighborhood of Windsor, ON Canada. The group is supplying LED bulbs to 832 homes in the neighborhood free of charge. Residents are being asked to install the bulbs on there front porches and leave the lights on all night. The goal of the project is to decrease crime with improved lighting and visibility. An added bonus of using LED bulbs for the project is a marked decrease in energy usage and prolonged bulb life. Residents will spend approximately $2.07 a year to run the LED bulbs an average of 8 hours a night compared to $12.72 for a 40 watt incandescent. The LED bulbs should last over 13 years at that rate.
This story shows one of the better uses of LED lighting. It also shows how governments and the private sector can work together to help the community. Even with the price of LED lighting dropping dramatically over the last 2 years, prices are still much too high to consider using them in every light in your house. Light fixtures that are used infrequently or are used only a few hours a day are not good candidates for LED bulbs. Lights that are used 5 or more hours a day, such as a porch light or landscape lighting, are much better places for LED bulbs. Thanks to CBC News for some of the information contained in this article.

Diamond Jo Shines With LED Lighting

Diamond Jo Casino in the Port of Dubuque,Iowa has replaced incandescent down lights in the casinos gaming floor, hallways, reception and meeting rooms with energy-efficient LED lighting. The 188,000 square foot casino has upgraded 750 of its existing down lights to LRP-38 LED lamps from Cree. The Cree lamps will last 35,000-50,000 hours, eliminating frequent bulb replacement and use only 11 watts of power instead of the 100 watts used by the original PAR-38 incandescent lamps. Diamond Jo Casino expects to save more than $46,000 in lighting costs a year along with an estimated savings of 60 hours a month in maintenance costs associated with replacing bulbs. Payback of the initial investment in LED lighting is expected to be one year. After that Diamond Jo Casino will reap an ongoing annual savings of nearly $70,000 for another 3 to 4 1/2 years.
Diamond Jo Casino is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, making it an excellent candidate for super efficient, long lasting LED lighting. LED lights may still to expensive for infrequently used fixtures and lamps. However, in areas where the lights are on for many hours a day, they can pay for themselves in a two years or less. They are also perfect for battery powered applications such as RV and underwater boat lights where conserving energy is a must.

Boise Keeps Historic Look, Slashes Costs

The City of Boise, Idaho is slashing its energy and maintenance costs by retrofiting over 1,000 high pressure sodium cobra head and post top street lights with energy efficient LED street lights. The new LED lighting is expected to cut the cities energy costs for street lighting in half while it nearly eliminates maintenance costs for the next 17 years. On top of the tremendous energy and maintenance cost savings, the city was able to maintain the historic look of it's antique lighting fixtures with retrofit LED lighting modules from Cooper Lighting of Peachtree City, GA. Many of the streets in Boise are lined with antique cast iron light poles toped with glass fixtures. The city and local residents wanted to keep these fixtures while still gaining the energy savings and long life of LED lights. Cooper was able to meet there wishes to keep the antique poles while upgrading to LED's with there high-performance decorative LED retrofit kit. These kits are helping Boise meet there goals of saving taxpayer dollars while still maintaining the historic charm of the city streets.

Nevada Saves $300,00 / Year With LED's

The State of Nevada is helping communities save a combined $300,000 annually in energy costs by switching streetlights and traffic siginals to LED lights.Funding for the project is being provided by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act and an Energy Efficiency and Community Block Grant. “The funding allowed a large initial capital investment in LED street lights, which otherwise wouldn’t have been possible in the current economy.” said Fallon City Engineer Jim Souba.

Switching to LED streetlights and traffic lights will allow cities and towns around the state to reduce operating costs. The LED lights will not only slash energy bills, they have an expected lifespan of 15-20 years. The old high pressure sodium bulbs used now last only 3-5 years. Communities will save thousands more each year through reduced maintenance and replacement costs. The LED streetlights also produce a more natural white light compared to the yellow light of HPS streetlights providing better visibility for drivers. They also focus there light more on the street where it is needed reducing light pollution into the sky and neighboring windows.    

Small Borough Saves Big With LED Lights

The taxpayers of Monaca, PA will soon be saving up to 90% on exterior lighting costs at the borough's Municipal building on Pennsylvania Ave. and at four of the borough's parks. Monaca will use $42,000 from the Power of Light grant program of Duquesne Light to replace 480 watt incandescent exterior lights with highly energy efficient 160 watt LED lights. The LED lights will be equiped with programable dimmers that will reduce there power output to 40 watts each night around midnight. They will also be equiped with sensors that will brighten the lights to full power for 15 minutes if motion is detected. Boat Launch Park, George Washington Plaza, Pumphouse Park and Veterans Memorial Park are scheduled to have the new LED exterior lights installed by the end of October. The LED lights will not only reduce the borough's lighting costs, but will also reduce maintenance costs. Exterior LED lighting has a life expectancy of over 8 years.

Lease To Own LED Lighting

In early August, Lunera Capital Plus SM, the financing branch of Lunera Lighting, Inc. LCP announced the Lunera® Capital Lease, a five-year capital lease with fixed monthly payments, no money down and no application fee. With the Lunera Capital Lease, the lights belongs to the lessee and are listed on the
lessee’s balance sheet as an asset. The lessee reaps the benefits of depreciation and interest, owning the lights after making the final payment. This gives you the full benefit of all accelerated tax depreciation and other tax benefits associated with the purchase of equipment for your business. With this lease you eliminate upfront cost of lighting improvements, lower operating expenses and realize savings in the first year. After upgrading, your building will immediately realize lower operating cost while attracting and retaining valuable tenants. This is a great way for building owners to reap the tremendous energy savings associated with LED lighting without the substantial initial costs.

Saving Taxpayers Money With LED's

The city of Tulsa, Oklahoma is saving money for taxpayers by switching all of the city's street lights to LED's. The project first started in 2004 and has seen a 70% to 90% savings in electricity costs each year along with reduced maintenance costs. "We're consuming a lot less kilowatt hours and getting a big savings for our taxpaying citizens," says Tulsa Traffic Engineer Mark Brown. The city has replaced more then a thousand traffic lights just this year.

Traverse City Installs 700 LED Lights

Traverse City, Michigan. Traverse City Light & Power is installing 705 street lights, pedestrian lights and building lights. The new LED's are replacing high-pressure sodium and other lights in downtown Traverse City. West Grandview Parkway is getting 342 LED streetlights while the farmers market area and downtown are receiving 313 LED gooseneck walkway lights. Fifty building lights were also installed on several schools in the area. In all, the project cost over $450,000. A Michigan Energy Efficiency Block Grant covered $250,000 of the cost of the lights, TCL&P paid almost $64,000 to cover the rest of the cost of the lights along with spending over $136,000 in instillation costs. The LED's are expected to save 463,618 kilowatt hours of electricity each year which will reduce CO2 output by around 706,000 pounds per year.
You can lower your own energy consumption and help reduce carbon emissions by switching from old, inefficient mercury vapor or HID underwater dock lights to much more efficient underwater LED dock lights.

City Market Saves More With LED's

City Market, Onion River Co-op, Burlington, Vermont's only downtown grocery store has installed energy efficient LED lighting in its 16,000 sq. ft. community-owned food cooperative. City Market chose Digital Lumen's Intelligent Lighting System to replace the 400 watt metal halide lights throughout the facility and LED track lighting and motion-controlled LED freezer lighting from  ElectraLED. The lighting upgrade is expected to save 100,000 kWh of energy per year. The LED lights will also decrease maintenance costs, improved product presentation and reduce premature aging of meat and produce from UV light and excessive heat for the lights. "The lights have been very well received and the whole store has a whole new dynamic of brightness and colors,” says Brent Demers, Facilities Manager of City Market/Onion River Co-op. Energy efficient LED lighting will save you money on energy costs and maintenance costs. The best places to install LED lighting is in areas that require the lights to be lit for long periods of time such as public buildings, parking lots and <a href="http://underwater-lightsusa.com/underwater-led-dock-lights/" >underwater LED dock lights</a>.

Liberty From High Lighting Costs

The inscription on the Liberty Bell could not be more fitting, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof,”. These words, originally meant to declare our country's freedom from a foreign land can now be used to declare our freedom from the high cost of lighting our homes, our streets and our buildings. The National Park Service has taken the first steps in this direction by switching the more then 2700 PAR 38 tungsten lights that had been lighting the Liberty Bell to Par 38 LED lights manufactured by MSi Solid State Lighting of Deerfield Beach, FL.
Since 2003 the Liberty Bell has been housed at the Liberty Bell Center. The glass enclosure allows the bell to be viewed at any time, day or night. This setup makes it easier for visitors to see the worlds most famous bell, but it also means higher electricity costs and more maintenance costs. Before, the tungsten bulbs used to light the bell needed to be replaced every two months. Now, the new PAR 38 LED lamps, shining 24 hours a day, are expected to last 7 years.
LED lighting is becoming the first choice of businesses, governments and homeowners who want to save on lighting costs and reduce maintenance costs. PAR 38 LED lights like the ones used at the Liberty Bell Center can be used in exterior floodlights around homes or businesses. Combine them with underwater LED dock lights as a cost effective way to light marinas and waterfront restaurants.

NRTC To Help Electric Coops Reduce Costs

“Area lighting is a huge expense for rural electric cooperatives, both in terms of energy usage and the resources required to maintain the numerous lamps on any given distribution system,” said NRTC Vice President of Utility Solutions Ed Drew. That is why the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) is teaming with PowerSecure of Wake Forest, NC to provide PowerSecure's energy efficient and low maintenance SecureLite LED area lighting solutions to NRTC members. “SecureLite was designed with electric cooperatives in mind, and it will allow our members to reduce costs, streamline operations and help the environment—all while delivering great quality lighting.”  said Drew. SecureLite can reduce a cooperatives energy usage by 67% compared to HPS area lights and a lifespan three times that of HPS lighting. SecureLite is also Dark Sky compliant and uses dusk-to-dawn control technology to improve efficiency and reduce maintenance costs. "We’re confident that NRTC’s members will benefit from the product’s returns on investment, in terms of energy usage, maintenance costs and quality of light." said PowerSecure CEO Sidney Hinton.
The National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) represents the advanced telecommunications and information technology interests of more than 1,500 rural utilities and affiliates in 48 states. Reduce your energy usage and maintenance costs by installing underwater LED dock lights at your waterfront restaurant.
PowerSecure International, Inc. is a leading provider of Energy and Smart Grid Solutions to electric utilities, and their commercial, institutional, and industrial customers.

Lighting Upgrade Pays For Itself

This story by Liz Shepard of thetimesherald.com tells how Port Huron, Michigan is upgrading all of the cities lights to LED's at no cost to taxpayers. The project is costing Port Huron $6.3 million, but will save $300,000 a year in energy costs along with reduced maintenance costs and replacement costs. "I think every city and county should be doing this," said Bob Clegg, city engineer. "I think this is important because energy is invisible, nobody sees it,". I'm glad to see that cities and towns are discovering the true saving potential of LED lighting. LED lighting does have a big upfront pricetag, but the cost savings pays for the lights in just a few short years. Underwater LED dock lights are the same way. They are more expensive upfront, but the savings in electricity and maintenance costs makes up the difference in price in a few years.

Port Huron Lighting Upgrade

New Streetlights Go 'Off The Grid'

I found this story by Lee Procida on the pressofatlanticcity.com website. Three towns in New Jersy are installing wind and solar powered LED streetlights. Egg Harbor, Sea Isls and Salem will all install hybrid LED streetlights that use a combination of solar pannels and wind turbines to charge the internal batteries that power the lights. Egg Harbor will save $95,00 a yer ain electricity costs by replacing its 568 streetlights, Sea ile will save $120,000 a year by replacing its 638 streetlights. The hybrid streetlights are from Brooklyn-based Lumi SolAir, and will cost $10,000 each. They are projected to last 15 years and should pay for themselves in about 7.5 years.

New Jersy Cities Test Hybrid Streetlights.

Nova Scotia Going To All LED Streetlights

All Nova Scotia Street Lights To Be LED

The province of Nova Scotia in Canada plans to convert every street light to LED's by the year 2016. Around 120,000 street lights will be switched over at a cost of around $100 million. When the project is completed, Nova Scotia will be the first state or province in North America to use only LED streetlights. The province expects to see a 50% savings in street lighting costs when the project is finished. The city of Halifax in Nova Scotia is also planning on installing underwater LED dock lights along its waterfront.
Read more on this story in The Canadian Press. http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5g0aB4tc_ZSCLoBiBN0Xrm_UL1Ytg?docId=6601090

Free Energy Saving Bulbs To NY Businesses

Free Energy Saving Bulbs To NY Businesses

Con Edison has entered into a non-exclusive agreement with Baltimore based Pro EcoSolutions, LLC to give away 100,000 energy saving bulbs to New York City businesses. "This agreement provides us with the incentives to be on the street in New York City, offering FREE energy saving bulbs to businesses." said John Romano, President of Pro EcoSolutions. Pro EcoSolutions will replace existing incandescent bulbs, subsidize the cost of lighting, and administer the installation. The bulb give away will help reducing carbon emissions and energy loads for Con Edison. I think Con Edison should be congratulated for this great program. You might not think an energy company would want to help businesses use less electricity, but it is a lot less expensive then building a new power plant. You can reduce your energy consumption by switching from older underwater lights to energy efficient underwater LED dock lights.

You can read this entire press release at http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/SavWatts-Subsidiary-Pro-EcoSolutions-Signs-Contract-With-Con-Edison-1421176.htm

Vermont Towns Switch To LED's

In an effort to lower energy consumption and reduce light pollution, Green Mountain Power is partnering with Efficiency Vermont to help every town in GMP service territory change over to energy efficient LED street lights. Green Mountain Power expects to replace thousands of mercury vapor and high pressure sodium street lights with new, energy-efficient LED street lights in towns throughout its service territory. LED lights produce a comparable amount of light when compared with existing mercury vapor bulbs with an average 66 percent savings in energy use and have a potential lifespan of up to 25 years, compared to 5-7 years for traditional street light lamps.

'Helping towns across Vermont switch to LED lights is a very important way to reduce Vermont's use of electricity,' said Jay Pilliod, of Efficiency Vermont. 'Towns are eager to participate and benefit from savings on their electric bill.'. 'This program supports our commitment to power that is low cost, low carbon and reliable,' said Mary Powell, president and chief executive officer of Green Mountain Power. 'Reducing energy consumption is an important part of this overall strategy that we have pursued for the past three years.' Towns switching to LED streetlights will reduce light pollution and glare while saving money and electricity. LED's can be precisely aimed to illuminate only the desired areas of streets, walkways and parking lots. Almost no light is reflected into the night sky or neighboring windows.
Save energy when illuminating your waterfront with underwater LED dock lights from Shadow-Caster. Thanks to CSRwire for the information contained in this story.