American Green Lights Presents at NLC Green Cities Conference

American Green Lights supplied the Induction Street Lights and LED Street lights demonstrated at the National League of Cities' Green Cities Conference held in Portland Oregon.

Jim Hunt, Immediate past president of NLC was the key presenter, along with Co Presenter Brian Davis of BDA Consulting. They presented their findings and recommendations of utilizing Induction Lights and in the future, LED street lights as a way for cities to reduce their carbon footprint and to save 40% to 60% of the cities' streel light electricity costs. Hunt and Davis wowed the audience with case studies of successful implementations and a solid strategy for deploying energy efficient lights. Jim Uno of American Green Lights "lit up the room" with the new technologies.

Almost all of the attendees had heard of LED street lights, but only 3 attendees had even heard of induction lights. It was quite an "illuminating" experience for these city officials.

Induction Lighting: The Best Kept Secret in Lighting

Induction lighting has been around since the times of Nikola Tesla, but the technology has been virtually unknown to most. It has been the darling of energy efficiency groups, but hidden from the public, with LED lighting taking center stage. However, case after case of successful implementations of Induction Lighting exist worldwide!

• If you watched the Beijing Olympics, almost all of the white lighting in the outdoor areas, from street lights, to walkway lights, to parking lot lights were induction lights.
• Frederick, Maryland has been using induction lights in a section of town and not had a single replacement needed in 14 years!
• San Diego's Gaslamp district has been utilizing induction lights along its streets for years.
• Portland, Oregon has had a five block area on Park Avenue just south of Burnside brightly lit by the white glow of Induction lights in its decorative acorn fixtures, clearly evident compared to the orange glow of the surrounding High Pressure Sodium lamps.
• The City of Los Angeles has over 5,000 induction lights that have been burning brightly for over five years with virtually no maintenance!

So what is an induction light? Think of a circline fluorescent tube with no electrodes, or an oversize globe-style bulb with wires coming out of it and powered by a high frequency power generator, also known as a ballast. What makes it special is the fact that there are no electrodes to deteriorate, allowing these lights to burn an average of 100,000 hours! That's 22.5 years for street lights burning 12 hours a day! at 1/2 the electricity consumption of the orange-glow High Pressure Sodium Lights, 1/3 the electricity of Metal Halide, and 1/4th the electricity of the outlawed Mercury Vapor lights!

So why aren't induction street lights being utilized more in the US? Even many energy efficiency experts have never heard of induction lights. One Vice President of Energy Efficiency at a major electric power utility had never heard of induction before we introduced them to the technology. At the recent National League of Cities "Green Cities" conference in Portland, Oregon. Of the 200+ attendees in the street light presentation, almost everyone was familiar with LED street lights, but only 3 had even heard of induction lights.

Another reason for slow implementation of induction is that since the technology is relatively unknown, there are few rate tariffs supporting a switch to these technologies. Since the lights consume 40% to 60% of the power of HPS lights, one would assume the tariff rates would be adjusted to match the consumption. This is the case only in a few power company areas. One power company in the mid Atlantic region even raised the rates because they were afraid the cities would switch, and they did not want to lose their off-peak revenue. But cities are starting to push back at the power companies to get the rates adjusted properly. Some cities that have leased lights previously have even resorted to buying the lights from the power companies and putting up their own lights on metered poles to have their electricity savings properly applied properly.

Induction lights generally are about 1/3 the price of LED technologies and provide payback of 3-5 years. Induction lights are available for street light, parking lot light, parking garage light, industrial/warehouse lights, retail lighting, and other large area applications. They are ideal in areas where lights are on for long periods of time or where maintenance is costly or difficult, such as in factories, natatoriums, and gymnasiums.

New LED Street Light technologies bring down prices

LED technologies for street lights has til now been a great idea in theory, but not cost effective. Products available til now have had a life of 8-10 years with an economic payback of 8-12 years, resulting in great environmental benefits, but difficult for cities to justify financially. New Developments in LED street lighting has made it cost effective to implement LEDs with 3-5 year payback!

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants

The Federal Government allocated $3.2 billion in grant money for Energy Efficiency projects. As of April 15, only 13% of all eligible cities had registered with the Federal agencies to receive their money. Time is running out!

Of the $3.2 billion, about 2/3 was allocated based on a formula by the Feds. Cities that were too small to be eligible for formula grants are eligible to apply for a portion of the balance. Each state energy agency has funds available, but the applications must be in by May 26, 2009 in order to be considered. Local Governments and Tribal councils have until June 26 to submit their applications.

Eligible projects include:

1.Strategy Development
2.Building Energy Audits & Retrofits
3.Financial Incentive Programs
4.Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programs for Buildings and Facilities
5.Development and Implementation of Transportation Programs
6.Building Codes and Enforcement
7.Energy Distribution Technologies for EE including CHP & district heating and cooling
8.Material Conservation Programs including source reduction, recycling, and recycled content procurement programs
9.Reduction and Capture of Methane and Greenhouse Gases
10.Traffic Signals and Street Lighting
11.Renewable Energy Technologies on Government Buildings
12.Any Other Appropriate Activity