San Antonio Retrofits 20,000 Street Lamps With LEDs (depreciation, safety)

[majormadmax]

Way to go, SA!

San Antonio Retrofits 20,000 Street Lamps With LEDs

In an attempt to cut down on energy use and illuminate the streets with a more natural color, a San Antonio utility recently announced that it will replace over 20,000 high-pressure sodium (HPS) street lamps with 100-watt 42-chip LED luminaires.

Apparently, the glow from traditional street lights produces low color rendering, which may make it difficult to discern true colors of cars or surroundings, whereas LED luminaires produce a more accurate color rendering, according to (the manufacturer). Retrofitting the lights will actually increase safety and visibility in areas of concern.

There’s the massive energy savings: The (LEDs) uses 70% less energy than the (current) street lamps and has a rated life of 100,000 hours L85. The photocells have a rated life of 15 years, which means the luminaire lasts up to 5X longer with a lower lumen depreciation than metal halide and 2X as long as HPS products. Over all this means less energy consumption when the lights are on, and less money spent on replacement bulbs and parts.

(Product brand name removed because the article sounded a lot like advertising. Full article at the title link)

[Bo]

Having seen LED traffic lights all over town with many dark segments due to heat-induced failure, I'm not sold on this idea. I want my street and any other streets I drive on to be lighted as thoroughly as possible for as long as possible.

A few missing segments in a traffic light is a minor inconvenience. A few missing segments in an LED street light means some portion of the radius around the light is darker than it should be.

[pobre]

Perfect! As LED's become cheaper, we'll begin to see more of them, I hope!

[TexasRedneck]

As Bo noted, there's been lots of issues w/LED lighting due to high ambient temperatures such as we encounter here in SA. In fact, as I understand it, they've started going back to conventional lighting on the traffic lights because of it, so it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

[txtea]

Then there's this little fiasco.....

New LED street lights fail in the rain | WOAI: San Antonio News

[Bo]

Originally Posted by txtea

Then there's this little fiasco.....

New LED street lights fail in the rain | WOAI: San Antonio News

CPS Energy says GreenStar, a local company that makes the lights

Somebody local's pockets are getting lined in this deal. Guess that explains the urgency and the need to order 20,000 of them to start with.

[majormadmax]

Originally Posted by Bo

Somebody local's pockets are getting lined in this deal. Guess that explains the urgency and the need to order 20,000 of them to start with.

Interesting, as the original article I linked had the lights being made by Toshiba...

[ged_782]

Originally Posted by majormadmax

Interesting, as the original article I linked had the lights being made by Toshiba...

According to the WOAI report, the lights are manufactured by Greenstar (local), but marketed by Toshiba.

[RedNeckRick]

Originally Posted by Bo

Somebody local's pockets are getting lined in this deal. Guess that explains the urgency and the need to order 20,000 of them to start with.

Can you say "The Mayor"?????

[dpantle]

Originally Posted by RedNeckRick

Can you say "The Mayor"?????

According to a comment on that article by a professed CPS employee, it would seem so.

"CPS Energy did do a study on LED lighting, I was involved, and Green Star came in dead last of all manufacturers tested. It was our beloved Mayor who shoved this fixture down CPS's throat. These fixtures were bought after a closed door meeting between our Mayor and the owners of Greenstar, without ever going out for bid."

Interesting accusation. If true, was this action for the benefit of a local company? Or for some benefit of a political favor?