06 Sep 2011 

The Nevada State Office of Energy (NSOE) has launched a program to retrofit 4534 street lights with LEDs in multiple areas across the state. Fountain, CO has lit its historic city hall with LEDs, and Longmont is testing solid-state lighting products including pedestal fixtures in a neighborhood. East Lyme, CT found an LED post-top fixture from Hubbell Lighting that matches the town's colonial-period look.

We recently covered a major ongoing LED street light project in Las Vegas, NV and now the NSOE agency is bringing SSL to other cities and counties enabled in part by funding from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) and a US Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Efficiency and Community Block Grant (EECBG). The NSOE plans to install 4534 LED street lights along with 1226 LED-based traffic signals aiming to save $300,000 annually in energy and maintenance costs.

NSOE Director Stacey Crowley acknowledged the importance of the savings and also praised the LED light quality saying, "The new lights have a more modern look than the old lights and produce a brighter image that increases safety on city streets and intersections by improving visibility."

Fallon, NV is one beneficiary of the program as the town was able to install LEDs in its entire inventory of 640 street lights. The town is projecting 15-20 year lifetime for the lights and is hoping to save $60,000 annually.

"The funding allowed a large initial capital investment in LED street lights, which otherwise wouldn’t have been possible in the current economy," said Fallon City Engineer Jim Souba. "This grant has been a blessing for Fallon allowing the city to complete a number of important energy-efficient upgrade projects that will reduce the cost of operations."

Souba also addressed the light quality. “The city has received a number of compliments on the light quality produced by the new lights,” said Souba. “One Fallon resident, who went for an evening walk after the LED lights were installed, said she was delighted and amazed with the new bright and cheery appearance.”

The NSOE noted that while the LED lights produce the same light output as the high-pressure sodium lights being replaced, that the LED lights appear brighter. The agency attributes the advantage to better light control and a more pleasing color temperature.

Other areas in Nevada that are getting LEDs include Ely, Lyon County, Douglas County, Washoe County, and Carson City. Those projects are in addition to the previously mentioned installations around Las Vegas in Clark County.

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