Let there be LED lights
Windsor to change 23,000 bulbs
Nighttime should soon seem clearer in Windsor, thanks to a $16-million project to convert almost 23,000 street lamps to LED bulbs.
“The main reason for the switch is these lights consume only 50 per cent of the energy that highpressure sodium lights consume,” project sponsor Shelby Askin Hager said Wednesday.
“So you’re going to see reduced energy costs.
“These lights also have a much longer lifespan, at least 15 years. Whereas with high-pressure sodium we do a wholesale re-lamping of all the lights every seven years. So there will be highly reduced maintenance costs.”
The city marked the changeover with an event Wednesday at St. Rose Catholic Elementary School in Riverside, where students displayed research on environmentalism. Work crews also changed a street light in front of the school to illustrate the major project, which will take a year to complete across the city.
Meanwhile, residents will notice a difference.
High-pressure sodium lights provide a yellowish glow, while LED bulbs emit a whiter, better-aimed light — matching the brightness for the standard established across North America. The idea is that motorists will see a little better with LED lighting the way.
“It’s a cleaner, whiter light,” Askin Hager said. “It renders colours a little more true.”