LED street lights are starting to pop up all over southeast Michigan like dandelions. They first started to appear in downtown Ann Arbor and then on the Ambassador Bridge. Now the city of Pontiac is installing the energy-efficient lights.
The LED lights are part of the $2 million reconstruction of Baldwin Avenue between Cesar Chavez Avenue and Montcalm Street, just northwest of downtown. Work is expected to finish in November.
The city is replacing the road and sidewalks along with the 36 light polls along the 1-mile stretch of road. LED lights are going in all of the new cobra-head street lamps. The LEDs cost $21,000 and are partially funded by federal and state grants.
The 36 lights are expected to significantly cut expenses because LEDs are more energy-efficient and longer-lasting. LEDs typically cut electric bills in half because they use less energy. They mostly produce light that is visible to the human eye. Normal incandescent lights produce a significant amount of ambient light that isn't.
"We're moving into that direction," says Allan E Schneck, director of the department of public works for the city of Pontiac. "We're trying to find innovative ways to cut costs."
Oxford-based Relume Technologies and its distributor Lumeco are providing the LED lights. It's also providing the LEDs for the truck inspection area on the U.S. side of the Ambassador Bridge and Ann Arbor's downtown.
The technology is already widely used in traffic lights, TVs and brake lights for cars; as well as those expensive flashlights at REI. Ann Arbor is in the process of installing them in all its downtown streetlights. Those lights are expected to pay for themselves through energy savings within 4.2 years.
Ann Arbor is also looking to eventually install LEDs in all of its streetlights within the next few years. Other cities like Ferndale, Wyandotte and Ypsilanti are seriously considering similar options.
Source: Allan E Schneck, director of the department of public works for the city of Pontiac
Writer: Jon Zemke
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.