billshurv wrote: ↑Wed May 08, 2019 3:02 pm
JR. wrote: ↑Wed May 08, 2019 10:49 am
Sounds like a problem with one vendor's design. Heat still needs to be managed. Otherwise LEDs should provide excellent longer term reliability and lower maintenance.
Interestingly about the time that high wattage white LED started to be fashionable for street lighting there were some interesting developments in high pressure sodium with smart ballasts that could vastly extend the life expectancy of the lamps. TCO comparisons were obviously exceedingly hard to do. Most street lights in UK are not on metered feeds, so they couldn't really care much about electricity savings despite all the green press releases.
I'm pretty sure same here... utilities charge flat fees for street lighting.
In my little burg the local utility installed power poles and lighting for the jogging/walking track around the softball field nobody uses. I do not know any details but think the power company fronted the cost of the poles, lamps, and installation, for the long term back end of regular power billing. (They hit the town water main drilling one of their holes for a lighting pole, so the town paid up front too
).
One option with LED lighting that isn't available with vapor sodium is instant on smart operation, where street lights could sense for auto headlights at a distance and only turn on as needed. Night time traffic around me is pretty light so huge savings could be available from smart lighting that only runs as needed. I could even imagine more integration between smart vehicles and street lighting... but not here, not in my lifetime.
Turns out municipal lighting is a fascinating field, although some of the people working in it could bore for their country
As i recall the funny deal they tried to sell to my friend's town in PA involved solar powered, back up battery and lighting for remote area lighting. The argument that didn't "smell" right to me was that they claimed it was competitive or even cheaper than running a spur from the utility power distribution. Maybe cheaper up front but not long term...
My friend took my advice to gong the deal, but it was an easy sell...he didn't trust them already.
JR
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