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This is your city’s future street light

By | April 27, 2011, 8:24 AM PDT

You may or may not like the light (or price!) of an energy-efficient LED light bulb for your home, but where the technology really makes sense is at scale — specifically, all the public lighting you see on your way home from work.

The U.S. Department of EnergyInternational Association of Lighting Designers and the Illuminating Engineering Society have awarded Sunovia Energy Technologies with recognition for “Best Outdoor Street Light” in a competition for solid state lighting design.

The lamp, called the EvoLucia LED Cobra Head SCHX5, uses what the company calls “Aimed Optics” tech, which provides a Fitted Target Efficacy, or FTE, score of 57. It was considered the best after evaluation for glare, efficiency, thermal management, uniformity and optics.

If that’s all Greek to you, consider this: this lamp projects the most light on ground, in the pattern required, with the best uniformity, using the fewest LEDs and the least power consumed.

That means it’s much easier to see the roadway late at night. Or public areas like parks remain safer after dark — without bothering the residences that line them. And on top of all that, they’re more energy efficient, cost less to operate, last longer than traditional bulbs and heck, you might even need fewer of them along a road.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

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Andrew Nusca

About Andrew Nusca

Andrew Nusca is the editor of SmartPlanet.

Andrew Nusca

Andrew Nusca

Editor

Andrew Nusca is editor of SmartPlanet and an associate editor for ZDNet. Previously, he worked at Money, Men's Vogue and Popular Mechanics magazines. He holds degrees from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and New York University. He based in New York but resides in Philadelphia.

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Andrew Nusca

Andrew Nusca
Andrew Nusca does not hold any investments in the companies he covers.
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0 Votes
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sounds like a good idea
Are these powered by solar? if not why not?
Posted by JWein87162@...
27th Apr 2011
0 Votes
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Why not solar ?
BECAUSE THEY CAN NOT CHARGE ANY ONE FOR THE FREE LIGHT !
Posted by john149@...
27th Apr 2011
+1 Vote
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Could Solar help though?
If these were fitted with a solar panel for morning and dusk lighting and maybe for reducing costs at night.
I doubt there is a practical solar solution to guarantee consistent full strength lighting. It would have to be connected to the grid anyway. So yeah we still have to pay the man...
I wanna see these in action.
Posted by nobeelmasri
27th Apr 2011
0 Votes
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What happened to the little plasma lights from a couple of years ago?
I remember reading an article about a company that had made a little plasma lamp that put out more lumens than a regular street light, in a pretty broad spectrum, and only used like 40 watts.
Posted by TranMan
27th Apr 2011
0 Votes
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Yeah
They are called LUXIM lamps. Haven't heard much lately...
Posted by becksdark
27th Apr 2011
0 Votes
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Already seeing LED street lights in Salt Lake City
Although the design is different, we are seeing LED street lights slowly replace the older designs around the valley. I just hope my city also does away with the inefficient globe fixtures that put more light in the sky than on the street. Inefficient outdoor lighting is a huge waste and it pollutes our night skies.

My subdivision in Sandy is lit up like a downtown area. The streetlights are so bright I have to block my bedroom window to get any sleep.
Posted by forrell@...
27th Apr 2011
0 Votes
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Led Stree Light
Is it available in the market? if not, when.? am very much interested, meantime please give me more feed back.
Posted by julian O. Chua
27th Apr 2011
+1 Vote
+ -
LED street light and solar
these units draw way too much power to be run from small solar panels.
Specs:
http://www.evolucialighting.com/site/storage/docs/cobra-head/SCHX5CutSheet_Rev3211.pdf
Posted by Jaytmoon
Updated - 28th Apr 2011
0 Votes
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snow and ice
Do these units put out enough energy to melt snow and ice? If I remember correctly that was a problem with some other lights a winter or two ago. I do not remember if those lights used LEDs or other technology, but it's something to keep in mind.

I have read that LED bulbs do need heat sinks, the one in my office ceiling has them, so the fixture simply needs to move that heat to the top and sides to get rid of the frozen water.

Terry Thomas
Atlanta
Posted by AtlantaTerry
4th May 2011
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