Help us keep bringing you the Adirondack information you value.
Email
Twitter
RSS
Facebook
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (LRC) are teaming up for the LED Street Lighting Academy – a series of four monthly webinars to educate local governments on LED street lighting options and better prepare municipal decision-makers for interacting with contractors and the public.
By converting street lights to energy-efficient LED technology, local governments can save taxpayer dollars, provide better lighting, reduce energy use, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The webinars will take place on Tuesdays at 10 am on the following dates:
Sept. 10 – LED Street Lighting – Help is on the Way
Oct. 8 – Talking Tech – How LED Street Lights Compare
Nov. 12 – Planning for Success with LED Street Lighting
Dec. 10 – Understanding Impacts on the Public
To register or for more information, click here. Email cec@nsyerda.ny.gov with questions.
Related Stories
General inquiries about the Adirondack Almanack should be directed to editor 
Not to forget: replacing the fixtures with eco/enviro-friendly designed ones, pointing all illumination DOWN, will end artificial-light pollution of the night skies … and migratory birds will thank us, too!
LED lights and lighting can provide for large savings for taxpayers…
EXCEPT that these units develop little, if any, heat, and will not be able to melt off any ice or snow that collects around the shrouds or bezels. As someone who drives a vehicle equipped with LED headlights in a area that receives a fair share of winter weather (sleet, snow, freezing), I’ve seen the collection that takes on the lens. AND, I’ve seen, first hand, the covering of traffic light lenses equipped with LED bulbs.
Let’s just hope that sufficient study has been made regarding these replacements, AND that “LED Light Snow Removal Technician” does not become the next Civil Service Exam offering we see listed on any of our government employment postings.
Phillip,
Yes, research is key. One would assume proper shrouding would minimize snow accumulation while minimizing light pollution in the night sky, but there may still be some conditions where snow could accumulate within the shroud.
Another area to research is the output spectrum. Many of us jumped on the LED bandwagon as soon as they were affordable. Those early lights produced a very bright white spectrum with significant amounts of blue light. Now many of us are switching to “softer” LED lighting (with reduced blue emissions) because of safety concerns and COMFORT. While health concerns from the amount of exposure to street lights would likely be minimal, comfort, glare (think LED headlights on oncoming cars), and eye fatigue should also be considered when determining what type of bulb to use. Just saying, do the research first, because LED bulbs are still expensive to replace, and waiting until they burn out will likely be impractical!
LED’s are a double-edge sword.
It’s hard to argue with the energy savings, and I’m all for that. But careful selection is required else light pollution will actually get worse!
Why?
Although LED fixtures are touted as “full-cutoff”, the beam is still too wide. You should not see glare from LED lights 1/4 mile down the road – yet light is scattered and reflected. You need shrouds to create a cone of light. Take another look at the photo. Is this good?
And the light is be harsh. LED’s work by producing blue light, which is then re-radiated by a yellow phosphor coating that is applied directly to the light emitting diode semiconductor. Blue light scatters more widely in the the atmosphere – that’s why the sky is blue!
Careful color selection must be made to mitigate this, and the temptation to over-light must be avoided or else we’ll loose our beautiful dark Adirondack night sky.
Look again at the photo in this article – the light is harsh!
NYSEG offers only limited choices in this regard. Their best choice is the lowest color temperature and luminance – currently 3000K (Kelvin), and 2000 lumens. Even so, there will be more emitted blue light than that of familiar sodium vapor lamps, which have a narrow color spectrum and correlated color temperature of about 2200K.
Here’s what can go wrong when LED lights are chosen without regard to these factors:
https://spectrum.ieee.org/green-tech/conservation/led-streetlights-are-giving-neighborhoods-the-blues
I agree with David Craig’s points. Great care must be taken to not replace one problem with worse unintended consequences.
LEDs are no good. Too harsh, too much light pollution. I hope they reconsider
I absolutely despise the LED street lights they used in my town. 1. The high color temperature of the light is not conducive to quickly recovering night vision. They’re way too white compared to the older style lights. So they put out a lot more glare, making you less able to see things on the other side of the lighted area. 2. They’re a much more intense point of light, again, not good for you eyes being able to readjust to the dark after seeing them even in your peripheral vision. 3. They light up a much smaller spot than the older style. While the old style lights lit up a pretty big area, the light kind of faded as you got away from the center of it. With these, it’s a sharp cutoff between where there’s light and no light. I have no problem with wanting to use less electricity, but they should be researched and designed better. In this day and age we know enough about this that these things shouldn’t be this bad. They should use lower color temp leds along with some sort of diffuser.
As for light Pollution, all street lights produce light pollution. With these, more light is being reflected back up due to the intensity of the light these produce, as where the old style just made a lot more stray light. Unfortunately, eliminating the stray light is part of why these are just so terrible at lighting up streets. The little circle of light they produce on the street is not useful at all. It’s like it lights up 5% of the road surface, and the rest is completely dark and absent of visual information.