LED Basics : Sustainability

Energy Savings
Saving energy is an important factor to many communities and decision-makers. LED lighting offers the highest energy savings of any lighting source on the market. As a comparison to high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps, a major metropolitan city with an installed base of 10,000 metal halide luminaires will save 18.5 million kWh of energy over the course of one year by switching to LED. “According to the U.S. Dept of Energy, no other lighting technology offers the same potential as LEDs to save energy and enhance lighting quality and reliability.” (Architectural SSL; p.37; November 2008)
	Maintenance
	A major factor in the total cost of ownership (TCO) of luminaires is the maintenance cost. Since LEDs can last for over 12 years (approximately 70,000 hours at 70% lumen maintenance) compared to HID which has a significantly shorter lifespan, therefore a maintenance crew must be sent to re-lamp the HID luminaires up to three times before a properly designed LED system needs to be replaced. “With a 10- to 15-year lifetime that is at least triple that of current technologies, the maintenance advantages alone offer a street-smart argument for transitioning to LED-based systems.” (Philips; White Paper: Street Lighting)
Green
What does Green really mean? Many think of it in terms of the degree to which we are preserving our planet. One way to accomplish this is to reduce our “carbon footprint”. The carbon footprint is thought of as the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and greenhouse gasses released into the atmosphere by human activity or a product lifecycle. In the scenario above, the city with 10,000 installed LED luminaires reduces the amount of CO2 emitted by 11,000 metric tons each year on energy consumption alone. In addition, since LEDs are mercury-free and contain no hazardous materials they are environmentally safe and recyclable.