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