LED Streetlight Study

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Overview

The city has partnered with a local company, Energy Management Solutions, Inc. (EMS), to look at different LED street light options. EMS is conducting a study for the State of Minnesota to examine LEDs for city roadway lights statewide. The City of Chanhassen has the potential to save money annually with this technology. This is one of several projects the city has been conducting to help reduce costs and save energy. This project is at no cost to the city. The city is allowing EMS to use city street light poles to test different manufacturers’ LED street lights. The city will see the benefit of the study in electrical bill savings.

Background of the Study

The EMS study is prepared as an account of work sponsored by a grant from the State of Minnesota under Minnesota Statute §216C.02, Subd. 1 as part of the Conservation Applied Research and Development (CARD) Grant Program.

Several new energy-efficient technologies are available to replace older, less efficient high-intensity discharge (HID) roadway lighting technologies – including LED and induction lights. These technologies have not gained widespread acceptance yet because the new technology has been expensive and is a different color light than HID lights that most people are used to. This study looks at the issue of quantifying the costs and benefits of replacing existing roadway lighting with more energy-efficient lighting options. Compared to standard existing equipment, a comparative analysis is being conducted for new roadway lighting technologies. The new technologies are being evaluated based on energy savings, installation requirements, and maintenance to provide an overall cost-benefit analysis of their implementation. Identifying perceived barriers to implementing these technologies in this market is a secondary goal of the project.

The study will create a 10-step how-to-manual for the appropriate selection of LED roadway luminaires and provide a comprehensive discussion of induction and LED roadway luminaire technologies. Economic analyses are also carried out to provide conservative yet realistic estimates for the cost-effectiveness of replacing current high-intensity discharge (HID) roadway lighting systems with LED roadway lighting systems. In addition, this study documents the implementation and outcome of a pilot demonstration of various LED technologies along Coulter Boulevard in Chanhassen. The demonstration will compare energy consumption, light quality, light distribution, and luminaire performance between incumbent 250W high-pressure sodium (HPS) roadway luminaires and ten different LED roadway luminaires from seven different manufacturers.

Expected Outcomes

There are an estimated 487,000 streetlights in Minnesota and over 13,000,000 nationwide. Utilizing these new technologies has the potential to save Minnesota hundreds of millions of kWh per year, plus millions of dollars in lamp replacement/recycling costs. These findings and recommendations are easily replicable across Minnesota in terms of energy costs and maintenance and are an issue in every city. This study is expected to motivate and empower cities, counties, and other entities to implement new roadway lighting technologies.

LED Roadway Lighting Study Results

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