No other popular lighting technology today is as efficient as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which is why many of the World’s cities are decommissioning old lighting in favour of LED street lights. As the world continues its way toward the adoption of greener and more sustainable technologies, the number of cities rolling out LED lighting installations and retrofits for city lighting is steadily increasing.
Here are five examples of cities that have started outfitting their roads and parks with LED street lighting.
1. Adelaide
The City of Adelaide is among the first cities in the world to use LED street lighting. In 2009, the city council installed LED streetlights along a pedestrian pathway to see how efficient they were compared to the metal halide bulbs that were dominant at that time. The result was a decrease in energy consumption of around 18 percent while producing the same brightness. Around 4,800 LED street lights have since been installed within the city precinct.
2. Los Angeles
As of June this year, around 160,000 LED street lamps have been installed along the streets of Los Angeles, making the city one of today’s biggest LED adopters and allowing it to significantly reduce its power consumption. Additionally, 50,000 of these lamps are equipped with smart controls that allow them to be dimmed when not needed, further cutting electricity usage and costs.
3. Chicago
In 2011, the City of Chicago installed LED street lights along two major thoroughfares, resulting in decreased glare and power consumption. Five years later, under its Smart Lighting Project, the city is planning the roll-out of a city-wide LED replacement program, targeting more than 80 percent of its current street lights.
4. Calgary
The City of Calgary in Canada started implementing its e2 Street Lighting Program in 2014, which involves the roll-out of 80,000 LED street lights all over the city. Over 24,000 LED installations have been done as of June 2016,
5. Copenhagen
Twenty thousand of the city’s outdoor lights half of the total number are being replaced with more efficient lamps featuring LED bulbs. Energy use will be reduced by 57 percent starting in 2016, reportedly equal to the annual consumption of 4,500 Copenhagen households. The project is just one step in the city’s quest to become the World’s first carbon-neutral capital by 2025.
Benefits of LED retrofitting in cities
By replacing their old street lighting with LED lamps, cities like these are expected to experience significant decreases in the amount of power that they consume, which also means lower electricity costs and greener cities. This is attributed to the energy-efficiency of LEDs, which consume up to 60 percent less energy compared to traditional lights.
Because they are brighter than traditional lights, LEDs provide better illumination and visibility especially at night, making them perfect not just for streets but also for parks and car parks. This is why city-wide LED retrofits can lower the rates of road-related and pedestrian accidents, as well as reduce crime and disturbances in neighbourhoods.
LED street lighting in cities is also one of the best solutions to the growing problem of CO2 emissions worldwide. While single LED lamps can’t do much in curbing CO2 emissions, a city-wide transition to LEDs can significantly lower those numbers. So not only can LEDs reduce energy consumption of lighting, which is 40 percent of urban power consumption on average, LEDs can also turn a city into one that is environment-friendly.
These are only a few of the cities all over the world that are seeing the value of LEDs, especially when it comes to city lighting. As demand for greener and more sustainable technologies continue to grow, the numbers of towns and cities transitioning to LED lights will also grow.
Interested in energy-efficient and environment-friendly lighting for your outdoor areas? Look no further than MatrixLED. With different types of LED lighting suitable for different purposes, our catalogue can fill any outdoor lighting needs, whether for streets, parks, or car parks. Visit MatrixLED to learn more about our products. You can also visit our Contact Us page and schedule a free consultation today