News

23 July 2009

 

Fairview joins Cree LED City program; opens first LED-lit street in Texas

Fairview, TX, USA has joined the LED City initiative, an international community of government and industry parties initiated by LED maker Cree Inc of Durham, NC, USA in December 2006 to evaluate, deploy and promote LED lighting for municipal infrastructure. Fairview joins existing program members Raleigh, NC, Ann Arbor, MI, Austin, TX, Anchorage, AK and Indian Wells, CA in the USA; Toronto and Welland in Canada; Tianjin in China; Gwangju in South Korea; and Torraca in Italy.

The newly constructed, four-lane Fairview Parkway - designed specifically to be lit with LEDs - features 82 LED street lights from EvoLucia, a division of Sunovia Energy Technologies Inc of Sarasota, FL, becoming the first new street in Texas lit entirely by LED street lights. “The quality of light is superior even to what we anticipated and is far better than what could have been provided by traditional lighting,” says mayor Sim Israeloff. “The town can reduce maintenance costs, improve safety, practically eliminate light pollution and dramatically reduce energy consumption,” he adds.

The Sunovia fixtures, designed with Cree XLamp MC-E LEDs, are designed to last an average of 12 years (depending on use) with a 50% electrical-energy cost saving compared to traditional metal-halide lights. Fairview will save $250,000 due to lower energy and maintenance costs over the anticipated lifetime of the LED lights, reckons Israeloff. Switching to LEDs should also reduce the town's carbon emissions by 1000 pounds per year compared with the high-intensity discharge fixtures initially planned for the new roadway. Additionally, the street lights feature advanced optics that, coupled with the directional capabilities of the LEDs, allow light to be aimed precisely where needed, providing even illumination of the street (eliminating dark spots and unwanted light pollution).

Following the Fairview Parkway LED conversion, the town plans to install more LED fixtures at the new Fairview Fire Station later this year and in the new town hall in mid-2010. Also, in addition to using solar-charged storm warning sirens, Fairview is investigating solar-powered irrigation and vegetation water-filtration systems.

“Fairview’s initial venture into LED street lighting was driven by Fairview’s aggressive stance on dark-skies compliance, and switching to LEDs serves as a great complement to the town's ongoing eco-friendly initiatives,” says Cree LED programs manager Deb Lovig.

See related items:

South Korea’s Gwangju joins Cree LED City program

Chapel Hill joins Cree LED City program

California’s Indian Wells joins LED City program

Search: Cree LED City LEDs

Visit: www.ledcity.org

Visit: www.fairviewtexas.org