editorial digest

street and area lighting: saving energy with better lighting

Outdoor street and area lighting remains the hottest segment of the LED lighting industry as solid-state lighting (SSL) provides incredible energy savings in applications where lights burn throughout the night. Moreover adaptive-control technology can be combined with inherently-controllable LED sources to
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compound energy savings via dimming and powering lights off when not needed. LEDs further offer better light quality than HID sources and eliminate light pollution. Fully understand the outdoor lighting segment by investigating control technologies, evaluating deployment strategies, and considering the delicate balance between safe lighting levels and minimal energy usage.

Seattle conducts LED street light testing and hosts symposium

14 LEDs headline at SALC, speakers

predict significant efficiency gains

27 Raleigh LED lighting projects demonstrate

durability and savings

Seattle conducts LED street light testing and hosts symposium

Outdoor lighting experts gathered in Seattle, WA for a full-day symposium on LED street light technology followed by a three-night demonstration and test session focused on determining safe roadway lighting levels.
by MAuRy WRIGhT

n seattle, Wa, the Virginia Tech

Transportation Institute (VTTI) and 100 lighting consultancy Clanton & 90 Associates recently led a LED street 80 light symposium and conducted three 100 G nights of solid-state lighting (SSL) roadway 90 60 tests focused on the balance of dimming G 80 B lights and safety. The symposium included lessons learned from LED lighting case 60 30 studies, a review of previous VTTI tests of B - Backlight/trespass U - Uplight/skyglow light levels and safe object/pedestrian detection 0 G - Glare/offensive light distances, and an explanation of the goals of the Seattle testing. Participants in the testing program provided Fig. 1. The BUG classification both qualitative and quantitative data to the project system is now used in luminaire team that will build on a growing knowledge base specification. focused on energy efficiency and safety. The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) hosted the symposium and test session, and Continuum Industries helped organize the tests. The actual demonstration and tests took place in Seattles Ballard neighborhood on the nights of March 6-8, 2012 along a closed stretch of 15th Ave. The Seattle City Light LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

Seattle conducts LED street light testing and hosts symposium

utility assisted in the site selection and arranging for the road closure. The symposium kicked off with a brief presentation from Mark Rehley, emerging technology operations manager at NEEA. Rehley said that the goal of the Seattle test was to help establish national and regional standards that dictate Whats the right amount of light to put on the roadway. The issue of course is that lower light levels equate to less energy used and thats important even in the case of inherently-efficient LED lighting. We think that SSL alone is not the answer, said Rehley. The biggest value comes when you combine [SSL] with advanced controls. The advanced controls provide the value of being able to turn the lights on and off at very precise periods instead of relying on a photo sensor that gets dirty and perhaps fails more readily than the SSL.
Fig. 2. Street lights that light the sidewalk but not the building adjacent to the sidewalk may be ideal.

Rehley also discussed the added implications of smart street lights making the analogy of having a smartphone and apps on light poles. He suggested that networked street lights in the future will strobe to guide emergency workers to an accident. And he said such lights could indicate detour routes in the case of a natural disaster. Questioning conventional wisdom Nancy Clanton, president of Clanton & Associates, took the podium to start the technical presentations and immediately issued a challenge to the audience. About street lighting she asked, Are we doing it the right way? And specifically she was referring to deploying street lights with LEDs as a revolutionary light source. We take this LED light and stick it on a pole because thats how we have always done street lighting. said Clanton. LEDs are great at grazing. Maybe we should have more layered lighting like we do in interior design with an ambient and a task. LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

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Seattle conducts LED street light testing and hosts symposium

Clanton suggested that just putting light down on a road isnt sufficient. She said effective lighting requires contrast of surfaces along with the ability to optimize color contrast. Indeed she was foreshadowing some of the concepts that VTTI is researching through LED street light tests. Clanton certainly doesnt Fig. 3. Philips Lumec Roadstar luminaires in a prior installation. ignore more commonly discussed attributes of LED sources including inherent efficiency, compatibility with dimming controls to further increase efficiency, and the ability to effectively control beam patterns. Dimming lights when traffic is reduced late at night is part of the efficiency equation. Clanton suggested that we need a nighttime level that is more subdued and just bright enough so that a driver knows a pedestrian is crossing the road. Clanton, however, explored a more subtle concept with controllable LED lighting that could have a big impact in slashing power usage. She said that in the case of legacy sources such as high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps, there is little chance to select the light level needed for an application. If a 150W HPS lamp falls just short of meeting the requisite level for a given application, the only recourse has always been to go to a 250W lamp. But with LEDs you can step up to the brighter source but dim it down to where it just meets the required level and pocket the energy savings. beam patterns and bUg Control of the beam pattern both saves energy by efficiently using the produced light and eliminating light pollution. Clanton was very involved in developing the Model Lighting Ordinance (MLO) thats being recommended for area lighting, and has been involved with ways to specify beam control for roadway lighting working with the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA). LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

Seattle conducts LED street light testing and hosts symposium

Clanton described the new backlight, uplight, and glare (BUG) approach to defining beam control for luminaires (Fig. 1). Specifically, lighting standards can set maximum ratings for uplight or light pollution, glare that might adversely impact a driver, or backlight that might trespass on the side of a building or into someones second story window. The light levels are specified based on the angles shown in the figure. Ironically, perhaps, Clanton said that some LED fixtures control light too rigidly. She is a dark sky advocate and was not suggesting any tolerance for light pollution. But Fig. 4. Street lights with an asymmetrical beam pattern left periodic dark areas on the roadway. she said many people prefer a fuzzy cutoff. Fig. 2 provides an example of the concept. Clanton defined the example as welldesigned lighting because it does illuminate the sidewalk although it only allows backlight on the base of the building. That performance is superior according to Clanton to either a light that only illuminates the street, or one that casts a lot of backlight on the building. seattle led installations A presentation of several LED street light case studies was among the most information-packed elements of the symposium. Edward Smalley presented Seattles experience to date with LEDs. Smalley works for Seattle City Light, although he has spent the bulk of his time in the past two years on his duties as director of the US Department of Energy (DOE) Municipal Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium. But Smalley led Seattles foray into LEDs.

LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

Seattle conducts LED street light testing and hosts symposium

Smalley said Seattle City Light is the 10th largest municipally-owned utility in the US and has an inventory of around 84,000 street lights. In 2008 when they started experimenting with LEDs, the annual energy cost for street lights was $5.3 million. Including maintenance and other expenses such as debt service, the total cost was $11.5 million. And Smalley said they faced a 17% rate hike in 2009. The cost issues led the city to consider LEDs, and a chief concern was cost of the luminaires. Smalley said he was asked in 2008, What will it take for Seattle to pull the trigger on LED street lights? implying a major deployment. Smalley said at the time the luminaire they were considering for residential streets was selling for more than $400. He said $350 was their target Fig. 5. The HPS lights on the right create significant light trespass on trigger point.
the buildings while the LED lights on the left only light the sidewalk.

Fast forward to today, and Seattle has converted somewhere between 18,000 and 21,000 lights they have products in inventory to reach the higher number. They have realized $1 million per year in savings. The expenditures to date are in the $8 million range. Smalley said the projected payback is 7.6 years. The economic picture gets even brighter looking forward. Smalley said that Seattle is paying around $240 per luminaire today. He said, Prices are going to drop and thats a good thing. He attributed the expected declines to the semiconductor industry that is behind both LED components and the driver electronics. Smalley projects that the price will ultimately bottom out in the $175 range. Colorado springs led experience The experience of Colorado Springs, CO with LEDs is at a much earlier level than Seattle, but the lessons learned there may be equally valuable. City traffic engineer David Krauth described the dilemma the city faced three years ago with LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

Seattle conducts LED street light testing and hosts symposium

municipal budget cuts and the cost of operating street lights. Krauth said, Our answer was were going to turn off one third of the lights. Ultimately the city did turn off 3500 lights on hand-picked arterial roads out of a total inventory of 25,805 lights. They continued to operate all lights in residential areas. Krauth said that the process of evaluating the arterial streets revealed that the city was lit extremely inconsistently and in many cases was wasting energy on lights that were too bright. Krauth said when he started work for the city, 400W HPS lights were common on arterials and that the city also had a number of high-mast lights that had six 1000W lamps per pole. He said turning three poles off saved $16,000 per year. Krauth detailed some of the common issues with over-lighting a city. He said One bright spot begats a bigger bright spot. After people go through an over-lit area, Krauth said a correctly-lit area appears to be under lit. That inconsistency can lead a municipality to brighter and brighter lights. In Colorado Springs after the selected lights were extinguished, Krauth said the city received over 1000 complaint calls. But the complaints werent just about safe lighting on streets. Krauth said, Its amazing the number of people that want their backyards lit by street lights, and the number of people that dont. That was a recurring theme at the symposium in that some citizens like light spill onto their property. It led Frauth to rhetorically ask, How do you run a system that does both? The city has installed around 500 LED street lights including a mix of cobraheadand acorn-style fixtures. But the city is struggling with consistency even with the LED lights. Krauth said that in the case of the acorn fixtures, the city maintained the same pole spacing that it has used with HPS lights, but the LEDs are brighter. He said, We have one street that goes into the airport that Im amazed an airplane hasnt landed on it yet. It is bright. Krauth is planning a new set of consistent standards developed from the ground up.

Ultimately the move to LEDs is focused on operating cost. Krauth said the city wants to make sure we can pay for the system and keep operating it. He did point LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

Seattle conducts LED street light testing and hosts symposium

out a surprising place where SSL is adding to the savings. He said the city had 450 lights incapacitated by copper wire theft totaling almost a quarter million feet of wire. He said lower-power LED fixtures do allow for smaller, lower-cost wire. ballard test site At the end of the symposium, the bulk of the attendees made their way to the test site in the Ballard area, where some brief presentations (www.ledsmagazine. com/news/9/3/4), including one by Seattle mayor Mike McGinn, were followed by a walking tour of the test site. The symposium attendees went through the qualitative lighting evaluation process just as public volunteers would over the course of three nights. The evaluation was based on a survey form that had to be completed for each of the six roadway segments that had different lights installed. As documented in the above link, one segment was lit by the 400W HPS legacy lights for the roadway, a second segment was lit by 250W HPS lights, and LED lights lit four segments. All of the LED-lit Fig. 6. A data acquisition system in the VTTI test vehicle links to segments used 105W Philips cameras, sensors, a GPS receiver, and the pushbuttons used by Lumec Roadstar luminaires testers. (Fig. 3). Three of the segments used standard Type II beam patterns with the difference being correlated color temperature (CCT) 3500K, 4000K, and 5000K (see, www.ledsmagazine.com/features/7/9/8 for more information about beam pattern). The final segment used a custom asymmetrical beam pattern that directed all light in the direction of traffic with no glare in evidence for drivers (Fig. 4). The roadway is three lanes in each direction with a center turn lane. The lights for the southbound lanes only projected light south, and vice versa for the northbound lanes. LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

Seattle conducts LED street light testing and hosts symposium

The survey was primarily based on 12 statements for which the respondents had to choose among five choices ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Examples include there is too much light on the street, the light sources are glaring, and I like the color of the light. There are also numerous questions involving how safe a respondent feels walking in the area. Down the road, we will see those results tabulated. evaluating the lights Here, I will summarize my own observations of the lighting. Upon first impression, the 400W HPS sources provided far better pedestrian visibility than any of the other lights tested. But without question that test area was over lit. Consider Fig. 5. Those side-by side images are of completely different buildings yet you can easily see the differences in backlight. In the HPS example on the right, there is substantial light on the wall and window on the second floor of the house on the far right. In the image on the left with LED lighting there is virtually no light cast on the walls of the one-story building, yet you can see that the sidewalk is lit. While the 400W HPS sources produced what seem to be more than plentiful light, the lights did not render colors well. Watching other participants in the walking tour with various colors of clothing, you could see how color contrast might come into play allowing better object detection even at lower light levels. I was very surprised that I couldnt really discern the differences in CCT with the three sets of LEDs that used a standard beam pattern. Those three lights generated uniform light levels on the roadway and sidewalk, and also rendered colors very well. The road segment with an asymmetric pattern was immediately recognizable. You could see that the light on the roadway got dimmer farther from the pole. And there was no light from the next pole helping to fill in and make the light level appear uniform. Essentially you could see periodic dark sections on the road. Ultimately, that may or may not be a problem, as it could enable superior contrast thats among the reasons the team chose to test the asymmetric fixture.

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We were also afforded the opportunity to view the LED lights dimmed to 50% LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

Seattle conducts LED street light testing and hosts symposium

and 25% of full light output. One of the project team members used an iPad to change the light levels of individual luminaires and groups of luminaires. While you could see the dimming happening by focusing on the light projected on the road, it was difficult to discern any difference in visibility once the luminaires were stable at 50%. There was noticeably less light at 25%, although Im not sure I would have felt unsafe walking in that light. Quantitative tests Ultimately its the quantitative testing that will determine how well drivers might see objects or pedestrians under the lights including tests conducted at the 25% and 50% dim levels for the LEDs. We wont see that data for several month. But I did have a chance to participate in one of the tests. VTTI equipped an SUV with a data acquisition system used for the tests (Fig. 6). That system links to a number of light sensors, cameras, a GPS receiver for precise location, and a push button that test subjects use to signal when they spot an object. The VTTI team located 7x7-in objects of various colors along the test site. And VTTI drivers navigated the roadway at a constant 35 MPH while test subjects looked for the objects and responded with the push button with the GPS logging the location of each depression of the button. I really cant pass judgment as to whether I saw objects more easily under one light type or another. Its simply too much effort to concentrate on looking for the objects and trying to know which light type you are under. What I do know, and a fellow tester agreed, is that you regularly spot some objects that are further away before you spot one that is nearer. That could be due to object color or perhaps the light at any given spot. I asked Ron Gibbons of VTTI how the system accurately detected an instance of two button pushes when the test subject may have seen the further object first. Gibbons said the forward-looking mono and binocular cameras mounted in the SUV mimic the human visual system and would see the objects in similar order to testers. Evidently the system uses that camera data to correlate the data generated by the volunteers.

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What will come out of the test is likely to be similar to the results we have LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

Seattle conducts LED street light testing and hosts symposium

seen from Gibbons and his team before. Gibbons uses the reference source and compares the other test sources in terms of object detection distance. In prior tests, for example, LEDs have provided detection distance 66-78% as great as the reference source while generating only 9-18% of the illuminance, and of course the LEDs use far less energy. During the symposium, Gibbons said, Lighting level has very little to do with detection. Gibbons said the human body responds to sensory things like lighting on a logarithmic scale. He added, Foot candles are meaningless. Its all about detection distance. We will cover the results once released and the finding will surely be interesting. Gibbons said in similar previous tests, the team had not been able to reduce the light level of the LEDs low enough to render the tested lights unsuitable in terms of detection distance. We will see if the 25% level in Seattle does so, and what impact the asymmetric pattern may have had on detection distance.

MAuRy WRIGhT is Editor-in-Chief with LEDs Magazine.

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LEDs headline at SALC, speakers predict significant efficiency gains

SSL technology dominated both the sessions and exhibits at the annual Street & Area Lighting Conference, reports MAURY WRIGHT, and LED-based lighting that is already succeeding based on efficacy will soon deliver significant additional power savings.
by MAuRy WRIGhT

14

Lighting Conference (SALC) took place Sept 19-21 in New Orleans, LA and the first speaker, Entergy Services business systems manager Bob Olsonoski, said Were not against LEDs. We just dont know what to do with them. We dont know how to price them yet. Olsonoski likely felt like the Lone Ranger through the remainder of the event because LEDs were central to virtually every other presentation, and dominated the exhibit hall. Despite higher upfront costs, LED-based solidstate lighting (SSL) is winning in outdoor Exhibit hall at SALC (courtesy of the Illuminating applications based on energy efficiency Engineering Society of North America; Bob Horner, photographer). and the inherent controllability of the technology. The prevailing theme of the conference was that energy savings will escalate significantly through more efficient LEDs, better lighting that can be operated at lower levels, and standards LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

he annUal ies (Illuminating Engineering Society) Street & Area

LEDs headline at SALC, speakers predict significant efficiency gains

and technologies that minimize over-lighting. The IES limits the exhibit area to 50 booths and around ten companies took dual booths so there were even fewer companies displaying products. One booth included induction street lights and one had high-pressure sodium (HPS) street lights. More than 20 featured LED street and area lights. Even exhibitors such as Philips Lighting, Osram Sylvania, Acuity, and Cooper that sell legacy lighting products only exhibited SSL. Why the focus on SSL? Edward Smalley, the director of the US Department of Energy (DOE) Municipal SolidState Street Lighting FIG. 1. LED system efficacy is on a steep ramp (courtesy of US Consortium (MSSLC) and DOE). the manager of street light engineering at Seattle City Light, pinpointed the reason. Smalley showed a graph from the DOEs latest SSL Multi-Year Program Plan (MYPP) that charts luminous efficacy against time for various light sources (Fig. 1). While efficacy is slowly increasing for HID and fluorescent sources and has been for 70 years, SSL (both LED and OLED) is on a steep ramp. Today HPS and low-pressure sodium (LPS) sources are still more efficient than SSL. But that advantage wont last long. Moreover, adaptive controls and dimming can deliver energy savings for SSL relative to HPS and LPS sources. And as well discuss shortly, broad-spectrum LED light is simply a better match for the physiology of the eye than are HPS and LPS sources. These were all prevailing themes at SALC. Of course SSL still has to overcome steep upfront cost, although that premium is certainly dropping rapidly. John Curran, president of LED Transformations, presented a graphic that precisely describes the LED value proposition (Fig. 2). Its LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

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LEDs headline at SALC, speakers predict significant efficiency gains

the combination of long life and energy efficiency that provides the LED value proposition. improving led sources Mark McClear, global director of applications engineering at Cree, discussed the stateof-the-art in LED components and the near-term outlook for FIG. 2. Long life and energy savings justify SSL deployments improvements. Cool(courtesy of LED Transformations). white LEDs at 6000K CCT (correlated color temperature) are readily available with an efficacy of 160 lm/W. McClear said that a luminaire design typically suffers a 10% loss due to thermal issues, a 10% loss due to optics such as lenses, and a 15% loss due to driver efficiency. So cool-white luminaire system efficacy is a bit over 100 lm/W. At the other end of the LED CCT spectrum, 2700K warm-white LED efficacy is 115 lm/W, resulting in a system efficacy of around 75 lm/W. McClear said, I really like the 4300K and 4100K LEDs. At 4100K system efficacy is 93 lm/W and that CCT is preferable for many people relative to the 6000K LEDs that have more blue energy in the spectral distribution. McClear said the cooler temperatures work better from an economic perspective because you can use fewer LEDs in a luminaire design. McClear and others including the DOE expect a continued increase in efficacy. McClear pointed out that the first DOE MYPP projected an efficacy plateau at around 150 lm/W. That plateau has been moved to 250 lm/W in the latest MYPP update issued earlier this year.

16

McClear said that LED luminaire efficacy has improved from 50 to 90 lm/W, at maximum drive current, over the last six years (Fig. 3). He projected system LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

LEDs headline at SALC, speakers predict significant efficiency gains

efficacy for sources in the 4100K CCT range to hit 120 lm/W within the next two to three years. He added, LEDs will be the most efficient light source available. Its also noteworthy to mention that prices are dropping at the same time that LED components are improving and volumes are increasing a recurring trend in the semiconductor industry. McClear said, The semiconductor industry has

FIG. 3. LED

luminaires drop in price while efficacy improves (courtesy of Cree).

always been a massive solution looking for a problem. The message is that the same juggernaut that delivered cheap PCs and cell phones will drive lighting going forward, and the escalation in LED manufacturing has begun. McClear said that more MOCVD (metal-organic chemical vapor deposition) reactors, used for epitaxial growth in LED manufacturing, have been installed in the past two years than existed previously. The fact is that LED cost has already diminished significantly in terms of the bill-of-materials (BOM) cost in luminaires. According to McClear, LED cost accounted for around 70% of the BOM in 2008 and has dropped typically to around 25%. The driver is now the biggest part of the BOM, but McClear said, The driver community is now just as engaged [in SSL] as the LED community. And the drivers are largely comprised of semiconductors so prices should drop as efficiencies increase.

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CCt and broad-spectrum light While McClear had noted the economic advantages of cooler CCTs, other speakers LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

LEDs headline at SALC, speakers predict significant efficiency gains

described the benefits of white light with a broad spectral distribution typical of todays LED sources. Ron Gibbons of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, said, White broad-spectrum light may provide equivalent task performance at lower illuminances than a less-broad source. Gibbons presented a graph that depicted the luminosity function of the human eye both for bright photopic and dark scotopic conditions. And he showed the energy peak of a LPS light that falls almost completely outside the spectrum of scotopic response by the eye at night.

FIG. 4. LEDs

offer superior lumen maintenance (courtesy of Kauffman Consulting).

Across CCTs that range from 3500K to 5000K Gibbons showed that LED sources have significant spectral content in both the photopic and scotopic bands. Gibbons said, The physiology of the eye lends itself to broad-spectrum sources. The ultimate goal of Gibbons research is to determine whether white light sources can be operated at lower levels than have been conventionally required, and still provide driver and pedestrian safety. Indeed many people believe the world is significantly over-lit and reducing light levels would provide direct energy savings. Of course there are both scientific and emotional challenges to white-light in general and a move to lower levels. Many people including several questioners in the SALC audience insist that driving under yellow- and orange-tinted HPS and LPS lights is more relaxing than driving under white lights. Gibbons, however, insisted that every study conducted finds that people like white light better LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

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LEDs headline at SALC, speakers predict significant efficiency gains

although they may not realize it until going through a controlled experiment. Gibbons also said that white lights render colors better. And color contrast is important in enabling the eye to detect objects, especially in the peripheral vision, he said. leveraging light research Gibbons and Rick Kauffman, of Kauffman Consulting and the chairman of the IES committee working on the latest update to the ANSI RP-8 standard for roadway lighting, both discussed how the research on lower light levels will be applied in the near term. The RP-8 update due imminently will allow for lower light levels in some cases in mesopic conditions (relatively low light levels where the eye combines photopic and scotopic response). The new standard will specify calculations called Rick Kauffman of Kauffman Effective Luminance Factor (ELF) and Effective Consulting (courtesy of Luminance Multiplier (ELM) that rely on photopic Illuminating Engineering Society and scotopic luminance values: these are presented of North America; Bob Horner, photographer). in a table relative to various light sources. The math is beyond our scope here, but Kauffman presented a relatively simple example in a case where a light source has a scotopic to photopic ratio of 2 and photopic luminance of 0.3 cd/m2. In such a case the required minimum light level could be reduced by 16.6%. There is a caveat to the change to RP-8. For now the standard prescribes that the lower light levels can only be used on streets where the speed limit is 25 mph or less. At such speeds, drivers dont even need street lights according to Gibbons because the headlights illuminate a distance greater than the stopping distance of the car. Street lights in such cases are primarily intended for pedestrian safety. Gibbons has begun another research project that will determine if lower light levels are also safe at higher speeds.

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LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

LEDs headline at SALC, speakers predict significant efficiency gains

Minimizing over-lighting In addition to discussing the ability to reduce light levels, Kauffman addressed the larger issue of over-lighting and wasting energy. We routinely install lights that operate at higher light levels than necessary to compensate for light loss. Lighting specifiers typically calculate a light-loss factor (LLF) when planning a project. The calculation can be quite complicated, said Kauffman, and includes accounting for thermal issues, driver or ballast issues, and even ambient temperature at an installation. But primary factors are lumen depreciation and luminaire depreciation caused by dirt. The RP-8 standard includes a graph for dirt depreciation factors. For very clean environments FIG. 5. Constant light output eliminates over-lighting (courtesy of Philips the factor can be as Roadway Lighting). high as 0.9 over 8 years. In very dirty areas the factor can be in the 0.8 to 0.9 range for one year but as low as 0.3 over 8 years. Kauffman described DOE tests that have measured dirt depreciation of 3.7% to 5.3% per year but said more testing is needed. Lumen depreciation is a well-known phenomenon and has been documented for a number of light sources. Ironically many have questioned LED performance over time, but LEDs actually provide superior lumen maintenance to most other sources with only HPS matching SSL. The graph in Fig. 4 depicts the typical advantage LEDs offer in terms of uniformity over time. The specifier will often utilize a lumen depreciation factor of 0.7 for LEDs essentially tied to the widely-accepted definition of the L70 LED lifetime that describes how long a light will maintain 70% of the initial lumen output. Multiply LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

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LEDs headline at SALC, speakers predict significant efficiency gains

lumen depreciation of 0.7 by dirt depreciation of 0.9 and you get 0.63 as the LLF. This is used to de-rate lumen output. A 100-lm source would be used in an application requiring 63 lm. LEDs, however, offer our best chance yet of minimizing over-lighting. Some companies are designing luminaires that slowly increase drive current over time in a way that matches the projected lumen depreciation curve. And it turns out that L70 may not be the right lumendepreciation factor with LEDs getting better and the new IES TM-21 standard available to project LED life. Constant light output David Baum, director of sales and marketing at Philips Roadway Lighting, addressed constant light output relative to the companys Fortimo linear LED Ron Gibbons, Virginia Tech Transportation module. Baum compared the Fortimo Institute (courtesy of Illuminating Engineering light with a legacy source and a typical Society of North America; Bob Horner, LED source (Fig. 5). The legacy light photographer). provides significantly too much light each time it is relamped over time. The legacy LED source provides too much light initially and gradually degrades over time. The Fortimo design gradually increases drive current over time thereby maintaining the target lumen output although that also means the power consumption gradually increases as well. Baum showed an example where luminaire system power increased from 26W to 31W over 50,000 hours. But he said a conventional source with comparable light output would require 38W. In the case of TM-21, meanwhile, a solution to reduce over-lighting may be an unintended consequence. TM-21 was in the works for a long time as we covered in a feature earlier this year. The idea behind the standard was development of a mathematical model that allows accurate projection of LED lifetime. LEDs rarely fail over time but rather degrade to the point of being ineffective. That led to LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

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LEDs headline at SALC, speakers predict significant efficiency gains

concepts such as L70 life. TM-21 provides a way to take the reams of data that are produced in LM80 LED component testing and produce projections across a range of scenarios. The details of TM-21 are beyond our scope here, but lets examine the basics. TM-21 utilizes data from a 5000-hour window of LM80 testing. If a particular LED model has been tested for the requisite 6000-hour minimum TABLE 1. Light levels are allowed to drop by half as required by LM-80, then TM-21 pedestrian activity wanes at night. uses data collected from the 1000hour mark forward. If an LED has been tested for 10,000 hours, then TM-21 data uses data collected from the 5000-hour mark forward. tM-21 and over-lighting TM-21 results are reported in hours alongside a descriptor in the form Lxx(Yk) where Lxx is the level of lumen maintenance and Y is the number of hours tested. A rating described by L70(10k) would infer that the LED would maintain 70% of its initial light output and was based on 10,000 hours of LM-80 testing. The TM-21 methodology delivers two results, one called calculated and one called reported. The former is the calculated output of the TM-21 math. The latter is limited to the lesser of the calculated life or 6 times the number of LM-80 test hours. An LED tested for the 6,000 hour minimum can have no greater reported life spec than 36,000 hours. You can calculate TM-21 results for any lumen maintenance value you desire. For example, Crees McClear showed an actual example where an L70(10k) test included a calculated life of 290,000 hours. And while TM-21 will be broadly used to project life, heres how it comes into play in reducing over-lighting. The example McClear showed also included a L80(10k) calculated life of 186,000 hours and a L90(10k) calculated life of 94,200 hours. McClears point is that maybe we should LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

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LEDs headline at SALC, speakers predict significant efficiency gains

use 0.9 as a lumen-depreciation, life-loss factor rather than 0.7. McClear said LEDs are unshackled from L70 and the result can be additional energy savings. Of course the LEDs are only one part of the SSL system-life puzzle. For example, McClear mentioned things like gaskets and paint that may not last 100,000 hours and of course the driver is an issue. Philips Baum said quality drivers have a maximum life of 100,000 hours. But he said that driver life declines rapidly when case temperatures exceed 65C. adaptive controls and dimming Not surprisingly, adaptive controls and dimming was a popular topic at SALC since dimming lights during periods of low activity can compound energy savings. And LEDs are dimmable to a fine level of granularity with commensurate energy savings whereas other light sources lack that attribute. The talks included the need for standards, ongoing field trials, and activity on controls within the DOE MSSLC. Lets start with the MSSLC, which launched a control task force about one year ago. Tod Rosinbum from the city of Portland is a member of the task force and described a wish list that is being molded into a model specification that municipalities and communities can utilize in specifying control systems. The document will be very similar in concept to the Model Luminaires Specification that the MSSLC released in draft form earlier this year and that is due for final release imminently. The controls specification will be released in beta form later this year for review and a final version is due next year. Rosinbum said on/off, dimming, and scheduled-based control are widely desired by consortium members. The members also want diagnostic capabilities, energy measurement for billing purposes, and automation of the work-order process for repairs. He also said that the membership is universal in wanting to own and control the data in-house. The most complete controls solution on the market today, by contrast, is the Acuity Roam system in which fees for maintaining the system and managing the data are part of the Acuity business model.

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Michael Poplawski, another controls task-force member from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), addressed some obstacles and lamented LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

LEDs headline at SALC, speakers predict significant efficiency gains

the lack of network standards that can be used in a wireless network. He noted that Zigbee is a possibility but as we covered last year, Zigbee doesnt include the definition of a complete protocol stack or a layer specific to the lighting application. Poplawski also noted that work needs to be done to ensure that different luminaires operate similarly when dimmed. He showed a graph of the performance of three luminaires that revealed noticeable differences in light level and power consumption when set to the same level by a 0-10V controller. But he said that operation could be normalized with standardization. roadway reclassification Laura Stuchinsky heads the controls task force and is also managing a pilot controls project in San Jose, CA where she serves as the sustainability officer in the citys Department of Transportation. San Jose has been a leader in trialing control technology and dimming. Indeed the citys work has been seminal in pushing the concept of reclassifying roads at night so that light levels can be reduced. Table 1 shows an example where light-level is reduced by as much as half later at night when there is little pedestrian activity. San Jose had previously worked with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to negotiate a lower fixed tariff for LED lighting. The city subsequently asked for even lower rates based on operating the lights at reduced levels during portions of the night. PG&E didnt offer to lower the rate now but agreed to participate in a 3-year pilot program. The utility mandated that the luminaires include a power meter with 2% accuracy. Moreover PG&E has insisted that the metering include the power consumption of the control electronics not just street-light power. San Jose must also monitor the power used by the wireless gateway that connects to a group of lights. San Joses work is being used as a guideline in the development of the MSSLC controls specification. The combination of controls and baseline LED efficiency appear to be the right match for broad deployment of SSL. And there are more savings coming through better LEDs. There is also more potential for savings in system design. Earlier this year, Tom Geist of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) contributed an article to our publication on LED street-light field trials, and at SALC presented LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

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LEDs headline at SALC, speakers predict significant efficiency gains

some additional data. Geist said EPRI has documented energy savings in the range of 25-70% in different trial installations. But he added that there is other low-hanging fruit in terms of savings. He said driver-efficiency improvements, temperature compensation in fixtures, and better quality control by fixture manufacturers could deliver more than 10% in additional savings. Also its important to realize that LEDs are being held to a higher standard. A couple of times during Q&A sessions at SALC audience members asked why there is no standard such as LM-79 with which legacy lighting must comply. Smalley of the MSSLC said, We are asking more out of LEDs than we ever have of HID.

MAuRy WRIGhT is Editor-in-Chief with LEDs Magazine.

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LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

Raleigh LED lighting projects demonstrate durability and savings

Beginning in 2007, Raleigh, North Carolina, was among the first cities to install LED-based lighting, and has demonstrated energy and maintenance savings over a long term with better-than-expected lumen maintenance.
by MAuRy WRIGhT

n leds Magazine, we write about LED-based lighting installations, and

projected energy and maintenance savings, every week, but its unusual to have a case study in which solid-state lighting (SSL) has been installed for years. Raleigh, North Carolina completed its first outdoor SSL project in 2007, and positive results, including excellent lumenmaintenance performance, continue to accumulate. Moreover, Raleighs lengthy experience also illustrates the pace of progress in outdoor LED technology. The citys earliest projects delivered good results while the latest projects show even better results in terms of light quality, LED lights in the Carolina Pines park in energy savings, and payback.
Raleigh, NC, survived a recent tornado.

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Raleigh began talking with Cree about LED projects back in 2006, according to Assistant City Manager Daniel Howe. The discussion began with Crees VP of corporate marketing Greg Merritt about Cree LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

Raleigh LED lighting projects demonstrate durability and savings

participating in a civic artwork project that had an LED-lighting element. Those discussions led to a plan to jointly install and test LED lighting on a much broader scale, and ultimately resulted in the launch of the Cree LED City program in early 2007 (www.ledsmagazine.com/news/4/2/2). Subsequently the DOE assumed guidance of the LED City program (www.ledsmagazine.com/news/7/9/30) but Raleigh remains the standard bearer for LED lighting. the led city According to Howe, Raleigh has undertaken 30-35 individual SSL projects. In aggregate, Howe says the city is saving $225,000 per year on its LED projects, $175,000 of which is in energy savings. Mayor Charles Meeker has been a major LED proponent. In a recent state-of-the-city address, he said, Our real challenge now is to take some of these pilot projects such as LED street lights and make them everyday applications. The city has undertaken both indoor and outdoor LED projects. Indoor examples include general and accent lighting in the citys The middle deck in a Raleigh municipal parking garage was the citys performing arts center, and lighting first LED project. in the mayors office. However, there are far more examples of outdoor lighting. The city has used SSL in parking garages, to illuminate streets, parks and freeway underpasses, and as lighting for pedestrian bridges. LED up-lights and bollards have been used as landscape lighting. And the city used LEDs in an architectural application to light its convention center faade (www.ledsmagazine.com/news/5/8/27).

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Raleighs first major LED project was in a municipal parking deck and was completed just prior to the launch of the LED City program. The city used LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

Raleigh LED lighting projects demonstrate durability and savings

luminaires developed by Lighting Science Group. A total of 144 70-watt LED fixtures replaced existing 188W high-pressure-sodium (HPS) fixtures. results from the first project The energy and maintenance savings of the first project have been well documented over four years at this point. The city installed the LED lights on a dedicated circuit so that it could precisely measure power usage. In energy and maintenance, the LEDs have saved the city more than $13,000 per year. After the initial installation, Raleigh also commissioned an independent public safety and security consultant to evaluate the lighting performance, and a market-research firm to study public perception of the lights. The city published positive results from both in a report that is still available on its website (http://1.usa. gov/jkS3R5). Howe LED lighting in the Raleigh convention-center parking structure. remembers being surprised when the public study revealed that the people said it was brighter and safer even though the lights cast 11% fewer lumens. The real benefit now, however, of a project that has been lit for four years is the opportunity to evaluate lumen-maintenance performance. All light sources degrade over time. But some naysayers have been especially critical of LED lumen maintenance and how fast SSL products would degrade to L70 (70% of initial light output) essentially the equivalent of a failed lamp. LED proponents often champion an expected lifetime in the 15-year range but realizing such expectancy requires LED technology with a slow rate of decrease in light output.

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Raleigh LED lighting projects demonstrate durability and savings

led life projections As with most LED projects, Raleigh projected the parking-garage light installation energy savings and payback period based on luminaire specifications including lumen maintenance and typical operating scenarios. The city expected the lights to exceed L70 for 50,000 hours of service, equivalent to 5.7 years if operated 24 hours a day. But because the garage level with the SSL retrofit was exposed to some ambient daylight, the city used a photocell Raleigh combined solar cells and LED lighting at a remote operations to power-down some center. of the lights for 12 hours each day, extending the expected life to 11.4 years for those luminaires. Obviously the use of photocell control adds to the energy savings as well. During 2010, Raleigh city workers returned and measured the light output of the LED luminaires. Howe said, The degradation was half of what we expected. The citys projections relied on a linear depreciation of light output over time. There is no guarantee of the linear response. Still Howe is optimistic that the lights will last longer than expected. He said, They may last 2 or 3 or even 5 years longer than we projected. Raleighs four years of experience and lengthy list of projects also offer insight into how quickly LED lighting is maturing. Indeed the report on the municipal garage (see URL above) noted that LED lights with 75% better efficiency had come to market during the planning and installation of that first SSL project.

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Following its success with LEDs in the municipal parking garage, Raleigh made the decision to deploy LED lighting in an underground parking garage at its new LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

Raleigh LED lighting projects demonstrate durability and savings

convention center. Construction was underway on the deck when the city made the decision to utilize LED lighting. Plans had been drawn for 544 220W metal halide (MH) fixtures in phase one of the garage project. To simplify the specification and implementation process, the city chose a BetaLED luminaire that was a one-for-one match for the MH luminaires in terms of light output. Ultimately the city installed 118W LED fixtures in March of 2008. There is a detailed report on the project on the LED City web site (http://bit.ly/ jWPGh0). The report projected a three-year payback for the LED lights. Maturing led technology Looking back, the more significant part of the story came with the second phase of the project when the city lit a second level of the garage with LEDs in August 2009. The second time around, 51W LED fixtures supplied the equivalent light of 220W MH fixtures. LEDs had advanced significantly in efficacy in 17 months. Moreover, the fixtures use BetaLEDs modular light-bar design that hosts the individual LEDs along with the companys NanoOptic total internal reflection (TIR) lenses to form a beam pattern (for more information on beam patterns and TIR, see www.ledsmagazine.com/features/7/9/8). According to Howe, the luminaires used in the first phase relied on five light bars to generate the required light. The luminaires in the second phase needed only two light bars 60 fewer LEDs per fixture. The reduction in the required number of light bars clearly illustrates the ramp in LED brightness. And the luminaires with fewer light bars will likely offer additional cost savings over the life cycle of the project. Raleigh modeled the projects on a 15-year life cycle that will require the city to replace the LED sources at least once and probably twice over that period. The city may be able to simply replace the light bars rather than the entire fixtures. The fewer the light bars involved, the greater the savings. led lessons learned

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Raleigh can serve as a broad example for other municipalities considering LED projects based both on the breadth of the experience gained and also on LEDs Magazine :: EDITORIAL DIGEST

Raleigh LED lighting projects demonstrate durability and savings

unexpected lessons learned. Indeed, LEDs shine in some applications for reasons other than low power, and the maintenance savings can come from unusual circumstances. Howe said LED lights deployed in a greenway underpass have proven durable to mischievous acts by youths that had led to burst bulbs in legacy lights. Also, Howe was willing to break down some of the different ways that Raleigh has deployed SSL, and to offer an opinion as to how mature SSL is relative to the specific applications. Considering parking garages, Howe said, The cost effectiveness of LEDs in low-bay lighting is way over the tipping point. Everybody should be installing LEDs in such applications. The case for street lights is almost as strong. Howe suggested the viability for LED street lights still depends to some extent on the utility involved and the rate structure. Utilities that offer a lower rate for LED installations make the application more viable. He said that investor-owned utilities such as Progress Energy, which serves Raleigh, are being the most proactive with such rates. Howe also stressed that Raleighs experience with LEDs has been very positive for the city and its citizens. He said, We havent done an LED project yet that hasnt penciled out financially. He said every project has brought positive cash flow to the city. He also dispelled the notion that LEDs only make financial sense when grants or rebates are involved. Howe said, We are now doing projects that are market based. The viability of LED lighting will only grow stronger going forward, particularly as prices of LED luminaires continue to fall. Howe offered another thought on the future. He said that energy prices will continue to rise, so energy savings attributable to LED lighting might be greater than people project when they compare light sources.

MAuRy WRIGhT is Editor-in-Chief with LEDs Magazine.

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