A-Squared Michigan Installing 1000 LED Street Lights: A Less Than 4-Year Payback
by John Laumer, Philadelphia 
on 10.24.07
We couldn't explain this upcoming project better than the LED lighting supplier to the City of Ann Arbor Michigan, USA.
The City of Ann Arbor, Michigan, the newest LED City™, expects to install more than 1,000 LED streetlights beginning next month. The City anticipates a 3.8-year payback on its initial investment. The LED lights typically burn five times longer than the bulbs they replace and require less than half the energy. The LED streetlights currently installed in Ann Arbor are based on the New Westminster Series made by Lumec, Inc., which contain LED light engines from Relume Technologies, Inc. The light engines are based on the performance-leading Cree XLamp® LED.
Full implementation of LEDs is projected to cut Ann Arbor’s public lighting energy use in half and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2,425 tons of CO2 annually, the equivalent of taking 400 cars off the road for a year. Detroit Edison, Ann Arbor’s local utility provider, will meter the new LED streetlights with the intent to gather sufficient information to develop new LED-based tariffs.
One of the reasons LED light clusters quickly became popular on traffic lights is because long-lasting LEDs reduce maintenance costs, increase public safety (no completely dead lights at rush hour) and avoid traffic blockages during maintenance. A similar rationale lies behind the increasing popularity of LED clusters in automotive lights. The advantages of LED street lights, similarly, are significant beyond mere payback on energy savings.
Via::Cree.
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It's great that their going to save so much power and everything, but I've seen these in use and I have to say they are pretty awful compared to the original lights. The quality of light is very cold and uninviting comparatively and the lights themselves with the grid of LEDs are fairly futuristicy but not really in a good way.
I'm normally a big fan of LEDs but this use or implementation just isn't good for the beautiful campus in my opinion.
i love LED lights.. very intense but kinda smooth.
I live in Ann Arbor and have seen the initial LED streetlamps that were put up. I'd have to disagree with comment on the LED light not being as warm & inviting. Considering most of the lights the LEDs are replacing are sodium lamps, which throw off a somewhat dim & orangish-yellow glow, the new LEDs are bright and clean. The lamps themselves look better with LEDs, and the light produced is of higher quality as well (IMHO).
I just bought a bunch of LED lightbulbs from LEDlight.com. I had purchased one 36 led cree light which was too cold, but the regular white bulbs should be fine.
I wonder if the individual leds are replaceable as they burn out or if you remove whole boards at a time. They wont last forever and 3W leds make a lot of heat so they will need replaced eventually. Plus, I know leds are getting more efficient but I didn't think they'd topped the lights used in street lamps yet.
I commend the initiative but it seems premature to invest in a technology that is still in it's adolescence. LED technology has not improved enough beyond halogen technology (the efficiency is somewhere above halogen but not quite to compact fluorescent yet) to make them an energy conscious lamping choice. As they do reduce waste and maintenance, they likely consume more electricity to produce the same amount of light as their traditional counterparts.
Good effort - just wait a little for the technology to improve.
Eh LED's have been around for decades. Not quite sure what you are talking about. If they are going to save the city money how is it too early to adopt the technology?
After looking at the streetlights offered by Lumec, I must say I'm appalled at the photometric results for most of the New Westminister line: non-cutoff optics, with some models sending 50% of the light above the horizontal, which literally means 50% extra energy is wasted lighting the undersides of birds and planes. The LED conversion is not described, but I hope to God they don't put any pointing up or to the side. They are glare bombs if they do. My only hope is other communities look at full cut off lights that light efficiently and save money in electrical costs, reduce dangerous glare, and reduce light pollution.
More efficient light bulbs aside, I think there should be some thought into motion-sensor street lamps. They'd only be on when a person or car is in the area, and greatly reduce the amount of light pollution within a city.
It is great to see that some cities have started the change to a more resourceful alternative for electricity. I don't see a down side to useing LED's except for their slight dullness. But over all it is an easy way to reduce energy, and all cities should be able to make that change eventually as there is no down side to doing so. Americans should be trying to reduce ideas that use up too much energy.
It is great to see that some cities have started the change to a more resourceful alternative for electricity. I don't see a down side to useing LED's except for their slight dullness. But over all it is an easy way to reduce energy, and all cities should be able to make that change eventually as there is no down side to doing so. Americans should be trying to reduce ideas that use up too much energy.
Dear Sirs,
Good morning!
I get your information from your website.
We are Zhejiang Qiushi Information & Electronics Co., Ltd.. We are a manufacture specialized in producing LED street lights (road light/pole light).
Our street lights can work under city power supply network(110V) or solar system power supply(12V/24V). And they can be installed on regular poles which you already have.
For pictures and specifications, please check our website "http://www.edensun-led.com".
These LED lights compare well to conventional streetlamps and most importantly shine their light downward, thus reducing night time light pollution, a major advantage in most cases over standard lights in a city setting.