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Outdoor Lighting: Philips supplies LED street lights to Boston and Weston (Updated)

27 Jul 2011

New SSL street-light projects in Boston, MA and Weston, FL utilize Philips Hadco and Roadway luminaires, and Philips SpeedStar luminaires serve in a UK pilot.

Boston’s new LED lights

Boston, Massachusetts is in the process of replacing more than 14,000 mercury-vapor street lights with LED-based Philips Hadco luminaires. In Weston, Florida, Philips Roadway is supplying 1200 solid-state-lighting (SSL) Roadstar luminaires. Moreover, Philips SpeedStar luminaires are lighting a Bristol, UK-area traffic circle.

Boston projects that its SSL street-light project will deliver $1.1 million in annual electrical savings, reducing power consumption by 8.9 million kW/h, and greenhouse gas emissions by 5000 tons. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said, “Not only do these lights help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they also save the City money in tough economic times. We’re excited to add these aesthetic and durable lighting fixtures to our streets.”

LED (left side of road) mercury vapor (right)

LED (left) and mercury vapor (right)

The Mayor noted durability as an advantage, and Philips Hadco says that the RX1 and RX2 luminaires being used in the project are rated for 18 years of life. The luminaires utilize the Philips Hadco LEDGINE modular LED array technology that comes in a choice of 300K, 400K, and 5700K color temperatures.

“This investment in LED lighting is aesthetically, environmentally and economically beneficial, a combination that all taxpayers can appreciate,” said Glenn Cooper, Associate Electrical Engineer, Street Lighting Division, City of Boston. “Philips Hadco delivered on everything we were looking for – from energy savings and outage reductions to enhanced visibility and improved light uniformity.”

Boston plans to complete the retrofit project by December. Philips is partnering with lighting-specialist Hurry Associates on the project.

Weston SSL project

Philips’ Roadway division is behind the Weston SSL project that is being funded in part by a US Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG). Weston hopes to save $160,000 annually in energy costs and another $100,000 annually in maintenance costs.

The Roadstar luminaires are replacing existing metal-halide lamps, and the city noted lighting quality benefits along with savings as motivation for the project.

Weston LED street lights

“Street lighting accounts for a large part of our energy consumption and the solution from Philips Roadway provided us with energy savings, improved light levels and reduced maintenance, making it the right choice for our city,“ said Jeffrey Skidmore, Assistant City Manager and Chief Operating Officer, City of Weston. “Feedback from our residents is that they appreciate the uniform, white light that virtually eliminates the dark spots between poles, as well as spill and glare. It also provides a clean look that fits the overall aesthetic of our community.”

Philips worked with Municipal Lighting Systems on the Weston project. Moreover, engineering firm Calvin Giordano & Associates assisted the city in evaluating LED lighting technology and Horsepower Electric is handling the installation.

LEDs in Bristol, UK

Philips is also the supplier to an LED street-light project in the Bristol, UK area. According to the Daily Mail newspaper, the local Bath and North East Somerset council have replaced 250W high-pressure-sodium lights with 169W SSL luminaires at a busy roundabout between Bath and Bristol.

The council expects the LED lights to nominally deliver a 40% energy saving. But the pilot project also includes adaptive-control and dimming capabilities that can reduce light levels late at night. The council hopes that dimming will increase the energy reduction to 60%.

The website Small World News Service said that the council utilized 71 Philips SpeedStar luminaires to light the traffic circle.

The SpeedStar luminaires are based on the same LEDGINE modules utilized in the Boston installation discussed above. Moreover, Philips recently announced that the Carbon Neutral Group had awarded a certificate of carbon neutrality to the SpeedStar design.

About the Author

Maury Wright is a Senior Technical Editor with LEDs Magazine.

COMMENTS

Name: john l Posted: Tue, 27 Sep 2011 01:09

The LED lights in Boston do not paint a positive picture for LED lighting. It looks like they were poorly specified with large dark gaps between the lights. Look at the HPS in the background ... nice and even.

Name: mark warner Posted: Thu, 29 Sep 2011 09:09

I fully agree with John. The problem in Boston is that they just took away the HPS fixtures and replaced them with LED fixtures. Big mistake. The distance between the poles and their height cannot be the same otherwise what you get is this: spotted lighting which is very uncomfortable and unsafe. The other point which remains a mistery to me is the one of the savings everyone claims to achieve with LED's. Technical Data Sheets of LED manufacturers will show that their efficiency (measured in lumen/Watt) is similar or below that of HPS lamps. Therefore how do you obtain savings if you maintain unchanged the light levels on the street?

Name: kelly beatty Posted: Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:01

Mark: as I read it, Boston replaced mercury-vapor fixtures, not HPSs. big difference.

Name: dsilveriadrumgod Posted: Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:02

http://www.dmxledlights.com/OutdoorLighting/StreetLightsLU1/Comparison_HPS_vs_LED_Street_Lights.html I've worked for TE Connectivity on R&D for SSL, they supplied & manufactured the connectors to Phillips for this project. My experience is that LED's are superior in almost every performance category at this point, except initial cost, which can be quite high.

Name: led guy Posted: Mon, 19 Mar 2012 19:03

Some of the comments earlier are right on about the lighting gaps that are now present. It is very difficulty to do a direct fixture-head replacement when going from an older technology to a new technology. New poles (potentially at a different height) with proper spacing is needed. The efficiency of these older Mercury Vapor, High Pressure Sodium and Low Pressure Sodium systems is also top notch (that is what they were so popular for so long) and LEDs are only just catching up. The real benefits to LEDs are the light quality in terms of uniformity (unless there are gaps of course), CRI (Color Rendering Index) and Color Temp (in Kelvin). You also eliminate up-lighting by having the LEDs pointing down which creates light pollution. There is also the issue of maintenance costs as LEDs last for much, much, much, much longer than traditional systems so you don't have to constantly be replacing burned out lamps. Last of all is that LEDs are digital in nature so they work far better with outdoor lighting control systems that allows LEDs to be turned on and off in less than a second based on dusk/dawn, daylight savings, cloudy days, weather emergencies, etc.

Name: ajaynejr Posted: Thu, 24 May 2012 00:05

LED fixtures can be manufactured with different beam spreads to take into account mounting height above the street and distance between light poles. Unfortunately either wider beam spread fixtures are not readily available or cities have not been ordering fixtures giving the proper beam spreads for specific streets and existing poles.

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