How’s Our Lighting?

Energy Conservation

Oct 08, 2010  Comment

Streetlights can suck up a lot of power. As part of a pilot project looking into ways of reducing energy consumption, Yukon Energy has installed six Light Emitting Diode (LED) streetlights in Dawson City.

LED streetlights need at least 50 percent less energy than regular streetlights and have a longer life span. They are starting to be used in many locations around the world including Alaska and British Columbia. The experimental streetlights in Dawson City have back light shields that significantly reduce light pollution and are approved by the International Dark Sky Association.

Research shows that LED lights work well in other places. We need to find out if they are a good lighting option for a community such as Dawson City, which typically has colder and darker winters than locations further south.

Our staff installed the LED lights this week on Second Avenue in Dawson between Albert and York streets (just behind the City of Dawson offices). The lights will be monitored throughout the fall and winter for cold weather performance and energy use. If the lights prove to be a good choice for Dawson City, we will look at installing LED streetlights in all our major service areas including Dawson, Mayo and Faro.

If you live in Dawson, we'll send you a short questionnaire in the new year after you have had a chance to see the lights in action for a while. Please take a few minutes to fill out the questionnaire and return it to us. If you don't want to do that, you can always call us (1-866-926-3749 or 393-5333), email us at communications@yukonenergy.ca or put a comment on this blog entry.

In addition to this pilot project, Yukon Energy is working with Yukon Electrical Company Ltd. and the Yukon government to develop a Demand Side Management (DSM) program. The program will look at a variety of ways to improve generation and transmission efficiencies as well as to reduce energy consumption both by the utilities and by government, industrial, commercial and residential electrical customers. Below are photos of typical streetlighting (first photo) versus LED streetlighting (second photo).

Comments

Be the first to comment

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.