City of angels becoming city of LED lights

Energy-saving light-emitting diode (LED) fixtures are transforming Los Angeles roadside light poles. Replacing traditional light bulbs with LEDs has already reduced the city’s electricity bill by about 55 percent and may save local taxpayers about $10 million annually once all LED lights are installed.

Paris is often called the city of lights, but Los Angeles could also vie for that honor with the second largest municipal street lighting system in America.  “We have about 210,000 street lights, and our electricity bill was about $17 million a year to keep the street lights on,” said Ed Ebrahimian, director of the Street Lighting Bureau for Los Angeles. 

Like many cities, Los Angeles was looking for ways to streamline its operating costs. “One thing that really stood out was the electricity bill,” Ebrahimian said. “Once we realized the LED technology was here and solid, we got together with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), the Mayor’s office and the Clinton Climate Initiative to formulate our LED street light energy efficiency program.”               
In one year, Los Angeles has installed about 20,000 LED street lights, and Ebrahimian said the majority of calls from the public are positive. He noted, “We have actually received a lot of calls from residents wondering when it will be their turn to have their street lights changed over.” 
Local law enforcement is also pleased. “The L.A. Police Department loves it, especially the helicopter air support,” said Ebrahimian. He explained that the LED’s white light is distributed more uniformly on the pavement.  “This has improved the visibility in the parts of the city where they have been installed,” he said.               

To finance the program, LADWP loaned the city $50 million for the five-year program, which Ebrahimian expects to pay off in seven

 years or earlier due to expected $10 million annual savings, including $7.5 million in electricity costs and $2.5 million for maintenance. Noting that the city has already saved $700,000 in electricity costs since the initial 20,000 fixtures were installed, Ebrahimian said, “The program anticipated a 40-percent energy savings, but it has been even more with energy savings at 55 percent, so it’s already exceeding our program goals.”

Los Angeles is not the only place undergoing a lighting transformation. Royal Phillips Electronics recently unveiled its 12-watt EnduraLED bulb, the industry’s first replacement for the 60-watt incandescent bulb, 425 million of which are sold annually in the United States. DOE’s L-prize competition spurred development of this LED bulb, which is expected to deliver an 80-percent energy savings and last 25 times longer than the incandescent.  Philips’ entry was the first submission for the L-Prize.
According to Phillips’ calculations, this LED replacement could save 32.6 terawatt-hours of electricity in one year, enough to power the lights of 16.7 million U.S. households.