Feb 17 2009

PG&E takes LED lighting to the streets

Posted by: admin

As PG&E employees walk down Beale Street in San Francisco and past PG&E's General Office complex on a chilly winter evening, they may notice some changes in the streetlights above. Maybe the color or the shape--something just a little different from the lights on other streets. Then again, they may not notice, which is a testament to the effectiveness of the newly installed LED street lights.

The LED additions were made possible through a collaboration of PG&E and the city of San Francisco to pilot this promising new technology in San Francisco. A recently completed assessment in Oakland shows that LED street lights can reduce energy use by approximately 50 percent against traditional street lights while maintaining the high quality of light resident enjoy.

Mary Matteson-Bryan, portfolio manager in PG&E's Customer Energy Efficiency Emerging Technologies group, is excited about the prospect of saving energy. "The outlook for LED street lighting is very promising, with our evaluations showing significant efficiency improvements in the past year. At the same time prices are falling. Now is a great time to introduce these technologies to our customers."

LED street lighting offers advantages beyond energy and cost savings. For instance, LED street lights are predicted to last 50,000 to 80,000 hours--much longer than traditional lights--reducing maintenance costs significantly. And because LED light sources are directional in nature, street lights can be developed to help eliminate light trespass and reduce sky glow.

PG&E is also working collaboratively with groups including ENERGY STAR® and the California Lighting Technology Center at U.C. Davis to advocate for quality statewide and national standards for LED street lighting.

The LED street lights installed on Beale Street have also been outfitted with network controls that will allow remote operation from a designated central computer or a cell phone. John Sofranac, who manages street and outdoor lighting programs at PG&E, said, "This pilot program has the potential to show that customers can manage their own energy use and maintenance costs by making it easier to control the lights--remotely, by turning them on and off or even dimming them."

LED street lights with automatic controls have the capability to provide real-time billing and faster, cost-effective maintenance through automatic alerts to field repair teams. Sofranac added, "This collaborative effort will leverage green indoor technology so that it can be utilized outdoors on these very important and valued assets."

PG&E expects to roll out this technology on a wider scale during the second quarter of 2009. The utility plans to develop LED incentives and rebates for customers who purchase and install technologies that meet qualifying standards. 

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"PG&E" refers to Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation.