[AZ-Observing] Re: City of Phoenix will use 2700 Kelvin LED streetlights
- From: Michael Collins <cal_donley@xxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2016 10:57:21 -0700
On 12/03/16 10:29, Dan Heim wrote:
Another good thing about LEDs is that, unlike a traditional streetlight,
LEDs can quickly ramp up or throttle down. That opens the door to
"smart" streetlights. With a suitable sensor attached, they could remain
turned off until a vehicle, bike, or pedestrian is detected and then
light up only while needed.
All of the LED lights in the NXP parking lot in Tempe were replaced a
couple of months back, despite having been initially installed only
about two years ago. I didn't understand why until the first night I
left the office after dark. The lights all have motion sensors and
increase in intensity by what's probably a factor of three or more when
a pedestrian or vehicle passes nearby. This is probably a more practical
approach than having them switch off completely, because people expect
to be able to see across a parking lot to locate their car and it is a
bit intimidating to walk into a dark area where someone might be lurking.
Of course, just one auto mall with a ridiculous lighting density can
overwhelm the best efforts of everyone within miles, so in the end,
small scale improvements like color temperature and auto-dimming street
lights are probably of minimal benefit. Until something is done to rein
in the gross emitters (and good luck with that in this town), little
steps don't matter too much.
-- Mike --
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cal_donley@xxxxxxx
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