Our LED Pilot Project: The Next Chapter
You might recall that in late 2010, in partnership with the Energy Solutions Centre, Yukon Energy installed six Light Emitting Diode (LED) streetlights in Dawson City. We wanted to find out how they would perform in extreme winter conditions compared to the traditional street lights. We’ve just completed a report of our research. Below are a couple of the key findings, or you can read more in our most recent newsletter on this subject.
~The annual energy used by the traditional High Pressure Sodium (HPS) streetlights is 416 kilowatt hours per light. The energy used by the LED lights is 150 kilowatt hours per light, a savings of 64 percent.
~The LED streetlights are estimated to last 38 years, compared with four years for the HPS lightbulbs.
While in principle we support moving to LED streetlights on a broader scale, we want to gather more information first.
We will do a follow-up pilot this year to choose the specific brand/type of LED light that is best in terms of price and quality (the Dawson City pilot project tested six of a single type of LED light). The locations for the follow-up pilot are still to be determined.
We will also continue to research advances and pricing changes in energy efficient street lighting.
Photo: our LED streetlights in use during -40 degree temperatures in Dawson City. Photo credit: www.archbould.com
Comments
by Mark Peschke
Here’s a new test idea. When your HPS burn out replace them with LED. I’ll send you a consulting invoice. Whatever amount you spent researching this for the past year will be fine.
04.03.2012
by Joel
Was there a problem with the color or brightness of the lights in the pilot project? It seems like a waste of extra time to do more testing if the first test worked well, especially considering all the different colors of street lighting currently in use in the Yukon.
04.03.2012
by Yukon Energy
Joel, the vast majority of people surveyed were happy with the color and brightness. It’s just that to replace all these lights is a substantial investment so we want to make sure we find the best possible product for the best price for our northern climate. LED technology is changing so rapidly that there are options available now that didn’t exist two years ago when we purchased the lights for the Dawson pilot project.
04.03.2012
by Lenore Morris
I am glad to hear Yukon Energy is testing lower-energy alternative street lights. Not exactly ahead of the curve but commendable all the same. Don’t spend too, too much time in the testing phase on this one.
04.03.2012
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