LED Streetlights All the Rage

Last July, the city's Department of Transportation announced that it was contracting with the Office for Visual Interaction to design a new street light. The OVI won an international competition for its proposed plan, which includes a sleek, redesigned lamp post, as well as a battery of LED lights which can be fine tuned to provide different lighting levels and different light directions.

LEDs have become a popular choice in many other applications, and it's easy to see why. Although the initial cost of an LED bulb is higher compared to its incandescent analog, LEDs consume less power, don't contain harmful chemicals (unlike compact fluorescent bulbs, which contain mercury), and last far longer. The New York City LED street lights are expected to use 25 to 30 percent less electricity, and to last more than twice as long as the sodium bulbs currently in use. The city will install six test LED lamps, and testing will continue through fall, 2009.

Of course, many cities around the world have already rolled out LED street lights, including Austin, Texas; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Dusseldorf, Germany. From a design perspective, the new street lamps' slim, arching shape is absolutely beautiful.

Public reactions have been largely positive, although some people complain that the LEDs give off too much glare, and that the lamp posts themselves lack the charm of the old style gas lamps. Many cities have spent time after the initial installation fine-tuning the color produced by the lights, based on feedback that the default light color is "too cold." Has anyone seen these in action? What did you think?