The biggest advantage of street LED lights when compared to traditional lighting is its energy efficiency. In fact, with further research, newer models of street LEDs are improving the levels of energy efficiency.

A 901 milli-watt LED Street light has a luminance level which is the same as a traditional street light, but it consumes 50% less energy. Moreover, an LED light will never stop working all of a sudden. Instead, it will decrease its luminance levels gradually over time until the lighting is so low that it has to be replaced.

• Better night time visibility and safer to the eyes because of uniform distribution of lights, eliminating darker areas in between poles.
• Lesser direct and reflected up light, which is the main source of urban sky glow.
• Depending on the design and source of LED lighting used, energy savings of 40-80% is possible.
  Street lighting maintenance savings of 50-75% is possible.
• Longer lifetime: usually 10-15 years. This is approximately double or even four times more than the traditional HPS lighting methods.
• Will never incur a catastrophic failure. Gradually burns out over time.
• Higher accuracy of color rendering, hence drivers are more easily able to recognize potential hazards on the road.
• Street LED lights can be quickly turned on and off. Traditional lighting first needs to heat up after it is switched on and then only full brightness level appears.
• No issues with immediate restart, in the case of a power interruption for example.
• LED lights do not have any mercury or lead components; hence no poisonous gases are released in the case of damage.
• Due to the elimination of ultraviolet light component in LED lights, they do not attract nocturnal insects’ as much as traditional lights.
• Traditional lighting methods capture the upwards emitting light with a reflector. But LED lighting panels do not need these reflectors and its design can eliminate the coverage for a refractor. Hence LED street lighting equipment is more optically efficient.
• Lesser glare in the downward direction. Therefore less light is directed towards the driver’s eyes.
• Unlike traditional lighting, street LED lights have the same levels of light output even during low temperatures in winter.

For smaller townships, converting all street lights into LED format at once would be easier. Larger cities however should carry out the project in stages. Here’s how you can conduct an audit of the current inventory and light levels of your city’s street lights:

• Take a count of every pole that has a GPS location
• Note down what kind of lighting is used on every pole. This could be a decorative acorn, decorative teardrop, and cobra head and so on.
• Note the wattage and lamp source of every light.
• Identify who owns and maintains each light.

After having carried out this observation, a lighting designer from LED Craft Inc can assist you in performing the rest of the conversion of traditional lights into street LED lights.