LED street lighting is a concept that has been embraced in recent years with huge benefits being realised in its intelligent application. Uniquely controllable and with massive energy saving capability, the idea of lighting our streets via LED is becoming a reality with a number of cities in the UK taking advantage of Green Investment Bank funding to upgrade to the energy efficient light source.
Offering 30 year loans to local authorities that want to make the move to a more energy efficient method of street lighting and reduce their costs, the GIB is wholly owned by the UK Government and is responsible for helping to fund green initiatives. It is said that local authorities may be able to offset the loan repayments from money saved by the upgrade to LED lighting in as little as five years.
Leading the way in the LED lighting revolution is electrical giant Philips which has invested millions in the advancement of this technology. As the demand for energy is increasing faster than the annual rate of improvement in energy efficiency, there are calls from climate lobbyists to agree more ambitious targets in order for the technology to be implemented globally by 2025.
Lighting our streets with a clear white LED cluster instead of the familiar orange High Pressure Sodium include:
- Reduced maintenance costs – a 100,000 hour lifespan in the average LED reduces waste
- No chemicals in the LEDs as with traditional lamps
- Greater light per watt than any other light source while using less energy to generate the light
- No warm up, less heat generated and the ability to ‘hot start’ if there were an interruption in energy source
- Increased perception of personal safety at night with better visual recognition of surroundings
- Directional light beam means that homes will be less affected by the lighting from outside
LED street lamps can be dimmed where it is deemed safe to do so to achieve even greater saving or can be responsive, triggered by a pedestrian or vehicle.
Leotronics offers a range of connectors in both board to board and wire to board configurations that are designed to provide a complete solution to the LED lighting industry. The connection capabilities are sufficiently versatile to be applied to any design requirement and make installation as simple as possible.
Contact us to discover how we can help you with your project.