Ontario city reduces energy with LED streetlight installations

Sept. 3, 2008

The streetlights are based on the K56-EAR LED Series made by King Luminaire, and contain LED light engines from Welland-based CRS Electronics. The light engines use the performance-leading Cree XLamp LED, shown here.

The municipality of Welland, Ont., has converted many of its public lighting applications to LED through Cree Inc.’s LED City initiative, an international program that promotes the deployment of energy-efficient LED (light-emitting diode) lighting.

The city has already converted streetlights and traffic signals, and there are additional projects underway. Welland has also amended its municipal standards to facilitate LED lighting for all future streetlight installations.

Welland has installed 50 LED streetlights along the revitalized area of Fitch Street and is formalizing plans for the installation of 50 additional street and pedestrian lights. The city’s growing use of LEDs is targeted to help decrease the $550,000-per-year cost of operating its streetlights. The city plans to eventually retrofit all streetlights with LEDs, which could yield a savings of $253,980 per year.

Welland installed 50 LED streetlights along the revitalized area of Fitch Street and is formalizing plans for the installation of 50 additional street and pedestrian lights.

“Welland has been immersed in the testing of LED street lighting and aspires to become a green community, improving life for our residents,” Mayor Damian Goulbourne said. “We look forward to promoting the benefits of our installations and sharing our experiences within the LED City program, helping to build a global municipal community committed to energy-efficient lighting.”

Deb Lovig, Cree’s LED City program manager, welcomed the city to the program. “Welland city officials have carefully evaluated LED lighting options and are responsibly deploying LED lighting to provide better light while reducing energy and maintenance costs,” she added.

Welland has considerable experience with LED lighting:

• In 2005, the city converted all of its incandescent traffic signals to LEDs, resulting in a 66 percent reduction in power consumption.
• In 2007, Welland installed 50 LED streetlights along Fitch Street, showing notable improvements on a street that was named one of the top 20 worst roads in Ontario in 2005.
• In January 2008, Toronto’s greenTbiz organization administered a public perception survey of LEDs in Welland. In the results, 73 percent of all respondents preferred the new LED streetlights. The responses listed energy savings, cost savings, brighter light, whiter colour and decreased glare as some of the reasons for this preference.

Welland city staff has specifically recommended that the city convert more of its lights to LEDs, citing the benefits of LED technology improvements. The city plans to convert its downtown decorative pedestrian lighting to LED as part of the city’s downtown revitalization project. The 50 LED streetlights to be installed in Welland are based on the K56-EAR LED Series made by King Luminaire, and contain LED light engines from Welland-based CRS Electronics. The light engines use the performance-leading Cree XLamp LED.
www.cree.com
www.ledcity.org
www.welland.ca