Energy Adviser: Shining spotlight on savings with LEDs

Streetlights have glowed in Vancouver since before 1900 when Main Street boasted six electric-arc lamps. From that humble beginning, thousands of streetlights now brighten streets, roadways and parking lots all across Clark County. The old electric-arc technology has faded. Now improved light-emitting diodes are eclipsing high-pressure sodium lamps, just as those once replaced even older lighting technologies.

Over the past few years, pilot projects have tested LED street lighting in smaller county communities and those tests have proven successful. In 2014, two pilot projects replaced about fifty streetlights with LEDs in Battle Ground and a couple hundred in Camas and Washougal.

“The pilots proved the technology, both from a cost and a performance standpoint, and we expect more cities will replace or retrofit existing streetlamps to LEDs over time,” said Bill Hibbs, commercial program manager for Clark Public Utilities. “For new developments, LEDs are now the standard.”

By mid-summer, Camas should finish a project replacing 3,000 streetlights with ultra-efficient LEDs. The work started in February and includes switching out 2,000 “cobra-head” lamps and a thousand “acorn” and decorative lamps, such as those in residential areas and along Camas’ Main Street.

Financing can be a hurdle when getting public lighting projects off the ground, said Hibbs, who once worked in the utilities’ engineering department as a street lighting expert and now manages the Commercial/Industrial Lighting Incentive Program, or CLIP, in the efficiency group. While there are costs to make the transition, Washington State Department of Commerce offers energy efficiency grants and making the move to LEDs is often eligible. So now it’s common for cities to apply for a grant to offset the cost of upgrading and the DOC grant program provided funding toward the Camas project.

Through the CLIP program, the Evergreen and Vancouver school districts are making the shift to LEDs for parking lots, as are many local businesses. These organizations see the many benefits of LEDs including the much more rugged composition, lower cost to use, reduced maintenance costs, and the lack of toxic materials that require careful handling and recycling.

Lower costs, better safety

It’s easy for customers to see that ditching a 400-watt HPS lamp for a 100 to 150-watt LED lowers the operating cost. And over time, replacements will be far less frequent since outdoor LED lights can burn for a decade, if not more, while HPS lamps often burn out in about 3 years. LED streetlights are also less prone to vibration damage. Together, these factors add up to significant savings on material and labor costs.

However, another benefit’s sometimes overlooked– safety. “LED lights can make it easier for people to see their surroundings, and recognize colors more accurately,” said Hibbs. Because they emit whiter light, and better direct the light, property owners can highlight parking areas and the sides of buildings, making it easier for people to see what’s going on around them and be safe. In the past, homeowners complained that HPS lamps shined in their windows or spilled light onto areas that didn’t require lighting. Now workers can easily adjust LEDs to point toward the streets and walkways, and not into windows, making street side areas safer and homes more comfortable.

“With lighting a major cost for cities and businesses, shifting to LEDs is a way to preserve dollars in the budget and improve outdoor safety,” Hibbs said.

Energy Adviser is written by Clark Public Utilities. Send questions to ecod@clarkpud.com or to Energy Adviser, c/o Clark Public Utilities, P.O. Box 8900, Vancouver, WA 98668.