Adoption of LED Lighting to Reduce Energy Costs and Improve Light Quality

Cree, Inc., a market leader in LED lighting, and the City of Welland, Ontario, Canada, announced that Welland has joined the LED City(r) initiative, an international program that promotes the deployment of energy-efficient LED (light-emitting diode) lighting. The city has converted many of its lighting applications to LEDs, including streetlights and traffic signals, and has 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 CAN$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.

“The City of Welland is committed to high-quality LED lighting that reduces energy and maintenance costs,” said Mayor Damian Goulbourne. “Welland has been immersed in the testing of LED street lighting and aspires to become a green community, improving life for our residents. 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.”

“We welcome Welland into the LED City community. 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,” said Deb Lovig, Cree’s LED City program manager. “Welland is joining the LED lighting revolution and taking a leadership role in helping other cities learn the benefits of LED lighting in their own communities.”

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 color 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(r) LED.

About LED City

The LED City is an expanding community of government and industry parties working to evaluate deploy and promote LED lighting technology across the full range of municipal infrastructure to:

*Save energy
*Protect the environment
*Reduce maintenance costs
*Provide better light quality for improved visibility and safety.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 22 percent of electricity used in the U.S. powers lighting. In a world with soaring energy prices based on the availability and control of fossil fuels, and with growing concern about sustainability of the environment, a revolution in lighting is long overdue.