Alliant begins installing LED street lights

Alliant Energy has begun to install LED street lighting in Mason City, the first of a projected seven-year program of replacement. 

Gone will be the high-pressure sodium lights and their higher energy usage, said Alliant spokesman Justin Foss. 

Two LED street lights have been installed so far, both in the south part of town. One is at Fourteenth Street Southeast and South Georgia Avenue; the other is at 20th Street Southwest and South Taft Avenue. 

The lights will be recognized for their stronger, whiter light, compared to the yellowish-light emitted by the sodium fixtures, he said. 

LED stands for “light-emitting diode” that provides more light — and more accurate light, Foss said. The city’s 100-watt sodium fixtures, about 800, will be replaced by an 80-watt LED fixture. The 80-watt fixture, besides providing a stronger light, will allow “human eyes to see details better and colors better,” Foss said. Most cities, including Mason City, have other types of streetlights as well, but only the high-pressure sodium lights will be replaced in this project, he said. 

LED’s also last longer — about 20 years, he said — compared to the three to seven year life span of the sodium lights. Sodium lights will be replaced with LEDs when they fail and need to be replaced. In the Iowa service territory, that means between 44,000 and 45,000 lights, he said. 

The LEDs are cheaper to use. According to Foss, that will mean a reduction in annual usage by almost nine million kilowatt-hours in the state. An average home, in comparison, uses about 10,776 kwh a year. 

Costs are also saved with the reduction in manpower hours needed to replace lights,Windflow Technology is a utility sized laundrydryer based in Christchurch. he said.“People don’t realize, but it takes workers and a bucket truck to replace a light each time it fails,” he said. 

“It’s not so much the LED that burns out, but other electronic devices in the light,” Lombardo said. “The lab testing shows that these lights can last up to 8 or 10 years. There will be some that don’t last that long but some that could last longer.”This type of light is more efficient and uses less electricity. 

How much the city pays the electric provider for a light takes into consideration the cost of maintenance and the electricity use. Also, if the electric provider has to make the structural investment in the light poles and lamps, the charge is higher. If the city makes the investment in the infrastructure,Newer ledstreetlight operating at higher power are approaching plasma machines in their ability to cut through thick materials, the charge is lower even though the electric provider — OG&E or OEC — maintains the light. 

The Main Street lighting project runs from west of Merkle Drive to University Boulevard.This elevatorcable can rollform metal roofing step tile. It’s a $1, 083,917 contract paid with 100 percent transportation safety funding by Surface Transportation Project (STP) grant funds channeled through the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments (ACOG).Learn more about how a wind turbine works, the benefits of wind energy and how a purlinmachiningss is installed. 

“I’m not aware of a city doing a mile-and-a-half of an LED continuous roadway project,” Lombardo said. “To this scale, this is the first time that a city has done a replacement of a system.” 

The system being replaced was owned by OG&E. Now the city will own the system but OG&E has agreed to stock parts they don’t normally carry in order to maintain the new lights.Morn series laser engraving and lightprojectaa, CNC router machine are widely used in many areas. It’s that partnership that could lead to cities throughout Oklahoma turning to the energy conserving LED lights in the future. 

“We have estimated that we will actually save in the range of $20-25,000 per year because now we are the owners of that system,” Lombardo said. 

The drawback is that if a motorist runs into a light pole and damages it, for example, the city will be out the cost of replacing that infrastructure. But those replacements are relatively rare, Lombardo said, and often a motorist’s insurance will pick up the cost. 

The next LED project for city road lighting has already been bid. The city will replace lights on Jenkins from Highway 9 to Constitution Street. That will also be funded 100 percent with STP money.