City sees significant cost savings in conversion from low pressure sodium to LED lighting fixtures.

When most people think of upgrading to more energy-efficient lighting, they may envision swapping out a few old incandescent light bulbs for CFL's or plugging their flat screen TV into a smart power strip. Few think about changing the lighting of their entire town.

But with hundreds of low pressure sodium (LPS) luminaires throughout the city of Tucson, Arizona, requiring significant maintenance and consuming substantial energy to operate, city officials made the decision to replace around 600 street lighting fixtures with energy-efficient LEDs in an effort to save energy and reduce costs to taxpayers.

Immediately after converting to the Streetworks OVH LED Cobrahead LED luminaires, the city began to see the savings. As of today, Tucson has saved approximately $3,000 monthly in electricity costs and officials expect to see at least $30,000 in savings over the course of the year.

Cooper's patent-pending technology delivers uniform illumination to walkways, parking lots, and roadways, and offers energy savings from 30-75 percent over standard H.I.D sources.

The luminaires have a 50,000+ hour rated life, which is six times longer than typical metal halide sources found today.

"Residents and decision makers alike can see the improvement in lighting in our streets," said Ernie Encinas, Transportation Superintendent for the City of Tucson in a press release. "The advantages that LEDs offer are unquestionable, from better visibility to lowered maintenance requirements. Most importantly, the city is seeing significant savings in energy costs because the...luminaires run with significantly more efficiency than our previous street lights, and we did not sacrifice light quality to achieve those savings."

Images via Cooper Lighting