EVANSVILLE LED LIGHTSMCAD IT2SDDeWayne Esson

// ABOUT

INTRODUCTION

Cities across the nation are desperately searching for op-portunities to reduce financial spending that contributes to the ever-growing debt in America. Areas such as Jef-ferson County Alabama and Stockton California are de-claring bankruptcy due to the ineffiencey to cut spend-ing and make innovative decisions to create economic growth. On October 20, 2007 the mayor of Evansville signed a declaration and an executive order to uphold the United States. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement that protects the welfare of Evansville citizens. With this commitment the City of Evansville currently should be actively searching for means to “reduce emissions of harmful pollutants, conserve energy/improve energy efficiency, and reduce public and energy costs.” Cur-rently the city has valiant steps to decrease high levels of dangerous air quality, developing sustainable building structures, and using cost efficient vehicles.

Recently Raleigh, North Carolina was issued as the Nation’s Most Sustainable mid size community and has set a standard on how other U.S. cities can follow suit. Raleigh’s most recognizable accomplishments occurred with the initiative to replace High Pressure sodium street lights to Light emitting diodes. Since launching the pilot program the city of Raleigh has seen $225,000 in savings and $175,000 in energy savings. Currently in the cities across the United States, predominantly most cities use High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lamps to illuminate streets and public areas. High Pressure Sodium bulbs are extremely cheap and cost at an average $15-$18 for replacement bulbs. This specific type of bulb has a lifespan of three to five years and they provided an equal amount of light for each amount of energy consumed. Also High Pressure Sodium bulbs are made with xenon gas and mercury which is needed to operate.

In comparison Light emitting diodes is an excellent alternative for street lighting and reduces the energy consumption by 42% -62%. The lifespan for Light emitting diodes range from twelve to fifteen years, which reduces the amount of maintenance, needed. Another of the major benefits of Light emitting diodes is option for output to begin instantly and is dimmable.

//THE FACTS

With replacing High Pressure Sodium bulbs with Light Emitting Diodes will be a very beneficial and lucrative change for the City of Evansville. As a model, the city can use Raleigh, North Carolina’s approach in implementing a pilot program that will eventually evolve in a realistic overhaul in creating a more sustainable environment for the City of Evansville. By replacing the High Pressure Sodium with Light Emitting Diodes bulbs will abide by three of the seven points outlined in the City of Evansville’s Sustainable Policy that instructs for local government to take provisions to action by:’

1. Protecting the health and welfare of Evansville residents, reducing the negative impacts of human activity on the environment and maintain a competitive diversified economy. 2. Established and enforce municipal policies and ordinances so as to reduce emission of harmful pollutants, conserve energy/improve energy efficiency and reduce public and private energy costs. 3. …Reduced consumption of energy from non-renewable sources, green space preservation, healthier urban forests, reduced traffic congestion, …reduced emission fo global warming pollutants, and economic development and job creation though energy conservation and emerging technologies.

http://www.cityofredlands.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/MUED/StreetLightin-gUpgradeProgram2.pdf

CITY OF RALEIGH

SUSTAINABLE MID-SIZE CITY

The City of Raleigh launched its pilot LED program in a municipal four level garage that was constructed with High Pressure Sodium fixtures that contained predominantly 100-watt bulbs. Level three was choose to launch the project that is a high traffic area due to the use by the public and light fixtures burn for twenty-four hours. Each fixture was High Pressure Sodium fixture was replaced with a LED fixture by the Lighting Science Group that allows for easy installation. Initial results show that there was a 40% decrease in power consumption in the garage, which calculated to each fixture, saved 50W of electricity for the 141 HPS bulbs it replaced. The projected reduction in electricity amounted for the third level of the garage calculated to 128 kWh per day/ 46.720kWh per year. The results where calculated four years after installation in which technology has surpassed the current LED lights that are offered now. If these same LED’s were replaced with current fixtures that are available on the market currently the garage could see savings of 82,000 kWh per year.

The City perception of the quality of light by the public was of particular importance in relevance to the garage. Pedestrians noticed the ability to recognize the color of objects and figures where affect by the light. The LED light fixtures performed highly with an 11% increase in foot candles (The unit is defined as the amount of illumination the inside surface of a 1 foot radius sphere would be receiving if there were a uniform point source of one canela the exact center of the sphere). The security of for the garage RMA did a video comparison of the quality of lighting in surveillance cameras and state that “video…shows parking areas well lit with the usual yellow/orange cast from the lights….leaves shadow areas where individuals can hide and ay in wait to perpetuate criminal activity.” Where the security guard staes that with the new lighting “sufficient lighting to positively identify a face and read body language at a distance of 30 feet.”

Prior to implementation of the new fixtures the city already had a preconceived notion that they would be placed in a position to buy new fixtures. The quote given to the city for the 141 LED lights in the garage listed at $450 per fixture and $150 for using HID light source which totaled to $42,300.

///CALL FOR ACTION

CITY OF EVANSVILLE

http://www.riffert-riverview-studio.com/img/s11/v34/p880924250-5.jpg

The most rigorous phase of the Call to Action has already been completed with the declaration of the previous mayor signing for current and future governments to make an effort for a sustainable environment for its community. To stay diplomatic approval will still be need from Evansville City Council. Approval from the city council will allow for any funds that need to be allocated to the project to be systematically approved. In 2010, Evansville was awarded $1.2 million from the United States Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Conversation Block Grant. This grant was awarded for the use to reduce energy and fossil fuel emission and to improve energy effiecncy for the city. As stated in the grant “Energy efficient traffic signals and street lighting” will be an eligible usage for those funds. A perfect place to start the first pilot program of the HPS fixtures to LED fixtures will be in downtown Evansville on Main St. This area has always been a focus landmark to develop business and create a lucrative tourism for Evansville. A baseline study of where the pilot program will begin should be the first issue that the city will need to discuss. The city has many subcommittees that specialize in this area of study that can take executive command of leading this initiative such as Keep Evansville Beautiful, The Evansville Department of Metropolitan Development, and the Evansville-Vanderburgh Area Plan Commission. These committees will need to develop recommendations on specific standards that follow IES and ASHTO policies on street lighting such as LED glare and clarity issues. The recommendations will extend for ordinances that cover neighborhood street lighting to business district street lighting. Each mentioned committee will handle specific areas that will develop information needed to create a plan to eventually replace all HPS bulbs with LED Fixtures.

1. Evansville-Vanderburgh Area Plan Commission- The APC specializes in long range planning for future development, community growth, and assist with data analysis.

2. Evansville Metropolitan Planning Organization- Is in charge of community sustainability, which involves reviewing development plans, impact analysis, and pedestrian facilities.

3. Keep Evansville Beautiful- Will ensure the aesthics of the city of Evansville stays true to its historic value. Which can also handle prior to officially installing the LED fixtures, local business need to be educated on how to replace current light signs, window treatments, and other illumination products that can coincide with LED products.

With the new standards set for the proper luminance that will be needed, the city will need to work directly with LED manufactures to develop means of a cost productive avenue to design new fixtures or use the current fixtures to use as the pilot test. The LED manufacture will use the standards set by the committees to ensure that the proper aesthic lighting (such as pink for Breast Cancer awareness or other events) and performance is upheld in field-testing. A cross-field analysis of all LED providers need to include pricing, maintenance, projected lifespan of appliance, and installation. A recommendation for a streetlight that will more than likely fit the various needs of the city is the DMX LED Street light LUI model. The model comes with a 36 month warranty that includes a life span of >50,000 hours. The LED uses 7W and is designed especially for road lighting that reduces light pollution. Compared to HPS bulbs that essentially takes ten minutes to warm up at full power, the DMX fixture takes only a merely 2 seconds. For special occasions the bulb also has the option to change its color if needed for events such as Breast Cancer Awareness month. More important than all the DMX LED bulb consists of no lead, mercury, nor causes any direct environmental pollution, and if the fixture works for 10 hours in a day can last for 13 years.

//CONCLUSION

http://www.cityofredlands.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/MUED/StreetLightin-gUpgradeProgram2.pdf

The city of Evansville has a great opportunity to make a tremendous impact on its community, citizens, economy, and environment. In the month of September, the City of Evansville electric bill totaled to $181,755.40 for 14, 901 HPS light fixtures, which accounts for approx. $2.1 million a year. Cities such as Raleigh (NC), Valdez (AK), and Austin (TX) pay for the maintenance and electricity of their fixtures just as the City of Evansville do. These cities notice an average of 42% to 62% reduction of overall energy cost directly from their streetlights. If Evansville is able to implement the LED program based upon previous states numbers, the city will save $1.26 million a year. There will be an high initial cost to installing LED’s but is highly inexpensive in comparison to maintenance needed for 10 yrs of HPS fixtures. After initial installation and maintenance of LED in has a financial advantage over HPS lighting fixtures in a span of over 10 yrs which essentially is the average payout period. The financial gains received over a period of ten years associated from displacing HPS fixtures can allow for funds to be allocated towards initiatives that are in desperate need such as road construction, job creation, and education.

http://www.energytaxsavers.com/articles/LED-Parking-Garage-Lighting.pdfhttp://www.ies.org/leukos/samples/4_July11.pdfhttp://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/alliances/outdoor_area_lighting.pdfhttp://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/NLPIP/PDF/VIEW/SR_StreetlightsLocal.pdfJennifer Lott- City Engineer of Evansvillehttp://sunnyvale.ca.gov/Portals/0/Sunnyvale/DPW/Transportation/LED%20Street%20Lighting%20Sunnyvale%203%2027%2012%20web.pdfhttp://www.ci.la.ca.us/bsl/LED_evaluation_report_phase_1.pdfhttp://www.lrc.rpi.edu/resources/newsroom/pdf/2011/NLPIPStreetlighting8511.pdf