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LED street lights are here!

1 December 2009 - 12:08pm — blrsri
Average: 3 (2 votes)

 The infamous richmond road flyover is always blamed for everything...First signal-on-flyover in the world..etc

But these days its in the news for good reasons..here you can see one of the first implementations of the LED streetlighting..

I could read the manufacuterers name as SEECOL on the lamps..tried googling..but not much info..

The lights are pretty decent..not really seen the full impact because of brighter vehicle head lamps..but still its a good step in the right direction..

Imagine the savings on power here..and check out the form factor..even a crow sitting on it looks really big!!

Comments

srinidhi's picture

LED lights are the future..

srinidhi - 31 Jan 2010 - 6:02am

"This(LED lights on richmond road) has minimised monthly electricity bill of the BBMP by Rs 23,776. In a year, the total savings will be Rs 2.85 lakh" 

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/49905/leds-cut-bbmp-power-bill.html

Glad to know that some things are going right atleast..

Srivatsava's picture

Lasts 5-6 years?

Srivatsava - 1 Feb 2010 - 7:10am

"This has minimised monthly electricity bill of the BBMP by Rs 23,776. In a year, the total savings will be Rs 2.85 lakh.

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency, based in Delhi, had taken up the project on a pilot basis in association with the Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited in Bangalore.
The total money spent on the project is Rs 14 lakh."

Looking at the numbers given in the report, to recover the 14 lakh investment, these LEDs need to last 5 years. Taking even the capital investment costs into consideration, these should last 7-8 years for these to be really cost effective. I dont believe that these are cost effective.

Yes, I do undertand that its cost is not all about money. That they consume so much lesser electricity is a 'cost saved' on environment. But for these to become really ubiquitous and people taking to LEDs at their homes and businesses, it needs to make lot more economic sense than just eco-sense.

We have had the CFLs being introduced almost a decade back. Bescom also planned to sell them at subsidised rates. Despite all that, they still dont sell like the good old incandescent bulbs.

 

-Srivatsava V

srinidhi's picture

US DoE in pursuit of LED lamps

srinidhi - 1 Feb 2010 - 11:07am

Europe jumped the gun to shut down sales/manufactuing of incandecent bulbs ..and planned to replace with CFL..however there are some issues with CFL..

  • High level of mercury in CFL
  • Cost constraints
  • Debatable luminous intensities compared to bulbs

US played different..they wanted to overcome all problems with CFL's to come with the replacement for the bulb..below are their rules set..

 Required metrics for the 60-Watt incandescent LED replacement, as laid out by DOE:

  • Energy consumption of less than 10 watts as compared to a 60 Watt incandescent.

 

  •  Output of more than 900 lumens, equivalent to a 60 Watt incandescent light bulb
  • Lifetime of more than 25,000 hours, which is 25X greater than a typical incandescent bulb
  • Color Rendering Index (CRI) greater than 90, which is a high measure of lighting quality
  • Color Temperature between 2700 – 3000 Kelvin, which is “warm” white light comparable to that of incandescent sources

http://www.lighting.philips.com/us_en/press/2009/lprize.php?main=us_en&parent=0&id=us_en_press〈=en

The first submission came from Philips themselves..its the right steps and hopefully the costs will come down too..

idontspam's picture

ROI on street light

idontspam - 1 Feb 2010 - 4:34pm

 The total money spent on the project is Rs 14 lakh.

  1. The pillars and other construction cost of a street light will need to be put in regardless of whether the bulb was CFL or Incandescent. Even if the bulb cost 50% of the street light your break even period reduces by half.
  2. This is LED and not CFL. No mercury as far as I know in LED's
  3. Typical lifetimes quoted for LED's are around 50 to 100 times more than an incandescent bulb. At this rate if LED's need 7 to 8 years by your calculation, incandescent bulbs shouldnt be lasting more than a month.
  4. 2.85 lakhs for me would be the opportunity cost if incandescents were used. What is the ROI of an incandescent street light? 

Here is a comparison of the various options in illumination and which ones are the most efficient. Turns out other than the favourite sodium vapour, metal halides are good for streets but LEDs are catching up. 

 

IDS

Ensure you can see rear tires on the road, of the car in front of you, at all times. Not only will you keep safe distance, you can see road markings guiding you instead of the idiot in front.

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