Switching to LED lighting is paying off for the City of Salmon Arm.
When darkness falls, more than 2,000 light fixtures come to life throughout the city, lighting its roads, parking lots, pedestrian tunnels and public spaces. For the past several years, the city has been working to convert its 100 to 150 watt high pressure sodium (HPS) fixtures to lower wattage light emitting diodes( LED). In 2020, the city had 87 high pressure sodium lamps with an operating life of 20,000-plus hours, changed over to LED lamps with operating lives typically of 100,000 hours.
"The City will be completing conversion of the remaining few parking lot, post top, and davit lights to LEDs this year," said city capitol works supervisor Colin Day via email.
Digging into the data, Day explained the city typically has an annual number of daylight and darkness hours of 4479 and 4281, respectively.
"With our street lighting sensors turning the lights on from dusk to dawn, and using the BCHydro electricity rates, a typical LED fixture costs about $20 per year to operate," said Day. " A 100-watt fixture would be approximately 2.5x that much ($50). The conversion of our streetlights from higher wattage to low watt LED is saving approximately $30 per fixture, or $57,000 annually."
The significantly increased operating hours offered by LEDs also means a savings in terms of labour.
"Assuming over 20 years before replacement will be needed, the energy cost savings effectively pays for the labour and material for the LED conversion program, with a projected overall program savings over the life of the fixtures of close to $200,000," said Day.
Along with the financial reasons for converting to LEDs, Day explained the new fixtures have the added benefit of being "zero cutoff" lights, meaning they do not direct any light upwards, which reduces the ‘glow’ in the sky in the city." Day noted the fixtures are compliant with the DarkSky initiative to combat light pollution.
The city's inventory of outdoor lighting just grew by 17, with the installation of post-top and bollard lighting along the McGuire Lake pathway for the Salmon Arm Daybreak Rotary Club's Light the Lake project. Similar to streetlights, these light fixtures use a photo cell that enables them to switch on when it is dark.
With this project, Day said an interesting feature being used for the first time in the city is a dimming and motion sensor system on the poles along the path.
"The system allows for user defined settings to adjust the on/off times, dimming levels down to 10 per cent normal lighting and sensor settings," said Day. "The intent of the system is to minimize the impact the light levels have on the environment around the lake by dimming when able, but allowing for pedestrian safety and comfort when people are using the path."
According to BC Hydro, using LEDs instead of older options like incandescent bulbs can save homeowners $75 in electricity over the lifetime of the LED bulb, with the additional savings that come not having to replace the LED bulbs as often.
