The Newton Tab reports that the city has installed 26 new LED street lights along Homer Street, Walnut Street and Commonwealth Avenue last week. These lights are a pilot program to get feedback from the public about how they like them.
The longer range plan is to replace all 8400 city street lights in the coming year or two with these more efficient LED replacements.
The numbers sure look good. $1.6 million to replace all 8400 lights. Annual energy saving of $275K. The lights’ lifespan is 15 – 20 years but the energy savings will pay for the lights in approximately six years.
Has anyone seen them in action yet?
About freaking time! I am glad Nstar has moderated their anti-LED stance and is now partnering with communities to do it. A number of years back they refused to do it in Cambridge so Cambridge up and bought all street lights so they could do the conversion themselves, light outages also get fixed much faster there…
More please!
The one good thing about not being too early is that the lights have got substantially better and cheaper. They nentioned in the article that people didn’t like the cold blue’ish color of the early LEDs.
In 2007, when Newton switched to high pressure sodium (HPS) streetlamps, it cost $1.5 million and, with a grant from NSTAR, the city saved 65% on energy costs. The HPS lights paid for themselves in two years or so. At the time, the BOA discussed light emitting diode (LED) lamps, but, as Jerry said, a lot of people did not like the bluish color and the technology was not nearly as advanced as it is today (e.g., you can now get LED bulbs for your home). Of course, a lot of people did not like the lower light and the yellowish color of the HPS lights, either.
Newton’s Energy Commission started the ball rolling again on LED street lights in 2010 and I am excited to see that the Mayor and the BOA will finally be taking this up. The advantages are that they last much longer and draw even less energy than HPS. The city will have to invest $1.6 million in replacing 8000+ HPS streetlights after only six years, but the energy cost savings will pay for itself in just six years and, just as importantly, will reduce our carbon footprint–all good. (The carbon emissions in our atmosphere have reached a critical level of 400 ppm and most climate scientists say to avoid serious climate change the levels must be reduced to 350 ppm, which is the highest “safe” level.) The Metropolitan Area Planning Council is working with cities and towns on group purchasing to lower costs.
John_on_Central, why didn’t NStar want to use them back then?
It’s nice to know the HPS paid off so fast, that we already made back the investment in those. But I’m reminded of the most memorable thing I learned in B-school: “Sunk costs are sunk.” So even if we hadn’t already made back the HPS investment, you’d do the LED if the cost savings compared to HPS justified it.
A crew installed LED streetlights on my street yesterday, in northern West Newton near Crafts & Waltham. The light is much more pleasant than the old streetlights, and less of it seems to be directed sideways into our windows.