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Topic: Tech Industry

Cree's LED streetlights slash energy use 50 percent

Summary: XSP Series Street Light slashes energy consumption by 50 percent and lasts three times as long as traditional sodium streetlight technology.

Heather Clancy

By for GreenTech Pastures |

LED technology company Cree plans to ship in May a new series of LED streetlights for cities and municipal installations that use 50 percent less energy, compared with high-pressure sodium lighting technology.

The lights, part of the XSP Series LED Street Light series, are designed to last approximately three times as long as the technologies that cities are used to using, a feature that is intended to help reduce maintenance and replacement costs.

The city of Anchorage has already invested in 5,000 Cree LEDway luminaires, helping address budget constraints and maintenance concerns, said Jeff Tews, acting director of street lighting for the Alaska city, in a statement. (Imagine needing to change a bulb in the winter; probably not a big priority.)

The XSP Series Street Light offers 100 lumens per watt; that is double the lumens per dollar compared with Cree's earlier generations of streetlights, the company said.

Topic: Tech Industry

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  • OK, what's the color?

    What's the color of these lights? A number of different manufacturers have LED street lights in pilot projects across my city. They all remind me of the terrible days of mercury lights. They are depressing.
    rgcustomer@...
    Reply Vote

  • Could be worse

    At least they're not those idiotic mercury-filled ones.

    Prime targets for a mini-terror attack - shoot 'em out and cause a mercury panic.

    Surprised it's not happened yet in a high school.
    harvey_rabbit
    Reply Vote

  • Get it in writing!

    Get that "three times longer lifetime" in writing before suckering tax payers into buying the things. Based on my actual experience with CF bulbs the long life claims are totally bogus.

    Since we need net A/C here CF is still probably a win for us, but if your climate needs net heating all that incandescent "waste" heat is not waste!
    wally_333
    Reply Vote

    • Re: Using incandescent heat in the winter

      Using the heat from incandescent lamps to heat your house or business is a poor use of energy. It would be much cheaper to have more efficient lamps and to run the more efficient heater a bit more. FYI. Of course living here in Arizona we LOVE that LED's don't produce much heat. One less heat source to battle is great when it is 115 degrees outside and we are keeping the office at 75!

      Daniel Henderson
      CEO - Relumination
      www.relumination.com
      relumination
      Reply Vote

    • I don't think we're talking about fast food heat lamps here

      I would think that, if you're that worried about the loss of "extra heat" by using CFC bulbs instead of incandescents, you'd be better off getting a portable electric space heater. Little to no energy would then be "wasted" on the lighting aspect, so you'd have a more efficient heat source.

      As for the longer lifespans, I'll admit that a lot of the early lifespan claims ("up to 7 years" or "7 times" on some, IIRC) were somewhat inflated. However, for every CFC bulb that burned out super-early, I've had at least 3 or 4 that ran roughly as long as they were claimed to run. And as far as that goes, you can have incandescents that blow super-fast as well, but because they were super-cheap (<$1 or $2 for a 4-pack) people didn't complain as much. But on average CFCs do last significantly longer.
      spdragoo@...
      Reply Vote
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