If you have a lemon…

Keep Sedona Beautiful’s Blog welcomes our first guest columnist!

Sept. 10th, 2009

IF YOU HAVE A LEMON…
by Barbara Breitbart, PhD

Psychological research has shown that hardiness is a major factor which contributes to the resiliency for not only surviving, but also thriving under conflict and adverse conditions. Psychological hardiness is a trait that allows individuals to accept the challenges and changes in life with good humour and resilience. It enhances performance, leadership, conduct, stamina, mood and both physical and mental health. Hardiness helps people turn negative situations into opportunities or to state it another way, it helps people turn the proverbial ‘lemon’ into lemonade.

When I first arrived in Sedona from New York City about 20 years ago, one of the first things I became acutely aware of was the clarity of the night sky. What a fabulous sight, to be able to see the galaxies and experience the wonder which a dark starry sky can invoke. Like many of you, I am concerned about the Impact that the continuous highway lighting of 89A will have on our fair city. My concern is not only about esthetics, but also about energy consumption and reducing the negative impact on our environment.

If, in spite of all our heartfelt and impassioned efforts to prevent continuous lighting if it turns out that West Sedona’s proposed lighting becomes a fait accompli, then why not focus our attention on utilizing a sustainable form of lighting, one that has green features, with reduced energy consumption, a reduced carbon footprint and reduced light pollution?

Light Emitting Diode’s (LED) is an efficient technology that has been implemented into consumer products from flashlights to automobile lights. Now, this technology is being used in street lights. Cities across the USA are making their streetlights greener by switching to LEDs. Several cities, including Ann Arbor, Mich., and Anchorage, Alaska have installed LED streetlights, and dozens more are planning conversions.

San Jose will convert 100 lights and is seeking $20 million in stimulus money for up to 25,000 more. City Transportation director Jim Helmer hopes to change all 62,000 streetlights by 2022. Besides cutting the $4 million annual electric bill for streetlights, San Jose’s LEDs will have transmitters and receivers so they can alert the city when maintenance is needed. They can be dimmed overnight, brightened when pedestrians are near and flash to guide first responders.

Missouri City, Texas, wants to convert 75% of its 31,000 streetlights to LEDs. Public Works director Scott Elmer says electricity for each would be about $7.50 a month, compared with $14.77 for incandescent lamps.

The Mayor of Anchorage, has listed the benefits of LED streetlights and said “We have studied new lighting technology extensively over the past several months to validate energy and maintenance cost savings. We also conducted a lighting conference and public survey in March of this year that showed our residents overwhelmingly approve of the new white LED lighting. He said that the LED fixtures are expected to use 50% less energy than current streetlights, which could save the city $360,000 per year at the current energy prices., typically last up to seven times longer than high-pressure sodium fixtures, allowing Anchorage to better utilize maintenance resources.

Rather than having to convert, retrofit and transition to street lamps, which most cities need to do, we are in the enviable position of being able to start fresh. Although the initial capital costs may be high, once they are in place, their operating costs and labor costs are lower and they can last for a very long time. Another benefit is that you can direct light much more easily, so you can avoid sending light in all directions, thereby preserving the integrity of our night sky.

The first bump in the road for LED street lights was that some people thought their white light was too cold compared to the red-ish glow of the old lamps, but that can easily be fixed by selecting colored LEDs or applying colored lens.

In sum, LED street lights reduce pollution and carbon footprint via energy savings that lowers carbon dioxide and mercury emissions from coal-burning plants, as well as reduced fuel consumption by maintenance crews dispatched for bulb replacement. LED street lamps can meet standard regulations for luminance level and uniformity, deliver significant energy savings, dramatically extend fixture lifetime, produce more usable light, support municipalities’ efforts to go green, lower the total of ownership, and more.

Taken together, these various solid state capabilities provide a persuasive, compelling argument for utilizing LED technology. Clearly, with so many incentives on the table, LED’s now deserve serious consideration for Sedona’s roadway and pedestrian lighting. It may be just the right time for our community to reveal our hardiness and make lemonade!

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The following information is derived from a Philips white paper.

Longer lifetime:

(60,000 hours) – translates into a 10 to 15-year life expectancy, depending on the duration of darkness in the specific geographic location. In contrast, conventional street lamps burn out after three to five years, incurring higher man power and related maintenance costs for bulb replacement.

Green Features:

LED solutions offer energy savings of as much as 50%. Other ‘green’ features are mercury-free construction, and reduced light pollution made possible by the ability to precisely control light direction through LED placement and optics optimization.

Lower Total Cost of Ownership:

Beyond performance, one of the most compelling arguments in favor of LED street lamps is the cost advantage of operating and maintaining the fixtures. In part, this comes from reduced energy usage that can cut electricity bills in half. In part, it comes from the longer replacement cycle made possible by longer LED life, increasing the interval between bulb replacements from three to five years to 10 or 15. This in turn accelerates the return on investment. Even with the higher initial cost of a solid state luminaire, municipalities can recoup the costs of an LED-based street lighting installation in four to six years.

Reduced Light Pollution:

Another virtue of LED-based street lighting is the ability to all but eliminate hot spots and wasted light. This degree of control over the light distribution, a byproduct of the LED form factor itself not only improves safety and visibility but also reduces the lumen requirements of the luminaire. Consequently, the use of LEDs delivers energy savings above and beyond that made possible by their low power while also extending fixture life and thereby reducing the burden on the waste stream.