Did you know that North America has over 1 billion street lights? Now imagine if these were turned into energy efficient lights that could monitor their surrounding area. Not only would this save American tax payers money but would also be able to monitor weather, traffic, pollution, security and much more.
Well if you didn’t guess yet, yes, this has already began to be implemented. Cities such as San Diego, Detroit, Seattle, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York City have already begun their switch to LED lighting. New York City has recently set plans and has begun to replace 250,000 sodium street lights with LED lights. Los Angeles has already finished replacing over 141,000 street lights and has seen a cost reduction of 63%. These cities have also seen a drastic reduction in light pollution as well.
These cities and many more are also setting themselves up to gain the benefits from intelligent street lights that LED provides. Currently LED lights are able to packed with sensors and cameras, which helps control the amount of energy being used by the street light. It also allows for them to be used in regards to security. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has already launched a project that utilizes these features to monitor one of the airports terminals. Las Vegas is planning to use their LED lights to play music and record sounds in the area of the street light.
Retrofitting an existing street light can cost anywhere from $200 to $2000. Yet, they are able to produce anywhere up to 90% in energy savings. There life expectancy is also around 10 years, this means less maintenance and less replacement.
LED lighting truly is the future of lighting due to its energy and cost saving qualities, as well as its technological possibilities. Soon you can expect to see every city in America switching to this terrific technology and turning your city into a “smart urban center”.
For more information on please visit our LED Lighting page.