LED manufacturer Cree has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to supply over 4,200 recessed LED lights for the Pentagon, the company announced Tuesday. Financial details were not disclosed.
Testing commissioned by the U.S. government determined that Cree's LR24 recessed LED lights would offer a 22 percent energy reduction compared with fluorescent lights, and save the Pentagon 140 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
The government also commissioned a cost analysis that showed the lights would yield a payback of less than four years once things like energy savings, maintenance, and the expense of properly disposing mercury-laden fluorescent bulbs were taken into account, according to Cree.
The new lighting will be installed in Wedge 5 of the Pentagon, coinciding with the major Pentagon renovation already under way in that area.
The purchase also happens to follow the advice of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan recently proposed by President-elect Barack Obama in his January 3 address.
As part of his plan to reduce reliance on foreign oil and create more jobs, President-elect Obama has suggested that the government will "renovate public buildings to make them more energy efficient."
Analysts have predicted that LED lighting will replace incandescent bulbs, making LED lighting manufacturers a bright spot to watch for within the struggling tech industry.
Before: A Pentagon room before Cree's LED lights were installed.
(Credit: Cree)
After: The same room at the Pentagon after Cree's LED lights were installed.
(Credit: Cree)Austin, Texas, wants to replace the cobra with solid state lighting.
(Credit:
LEDtronics)
The city, which has been experimenting with several green technologies and trying to encourage green companies to locate there, will evaluate the cost-effectiveness of replacing 250-watt high pressure sodium "Cobra-head" street lights with LED street lights, which consume far less energy. The city estimates it could save up to $500,000 a year in utility bills by inserting LEDs in 5,000 street lights alone.
Maintenance costs would also likely decline because LEDs last longer. Although LEDs cost more, advocates say that the total cost of ownership, particularly in public light figures, is lower.
The LED city program is being driven by--surprise, surprise--LED manufacturer Cree. The company has kicked off projects with Raleigh, N.C.; Toronto; and Ann Arbor, Mich. Raleigh, for instance, retrofitted a public parking garage with LEDs and now wants to expand to its other parking garages.
Last December, Austin inserted LED lighting into a parking garage. The city estimates that it will save $10,178 in utility and maintenance costs a year. Payback for the lights could come in 6.5 years, the city said. (In 2003, the city replaced 5,200 traffic signals and 3,700 pedestrian signals with LED fixtures.)
The public sector isn't the only one buying LED lights. AgiLight and LED Lighting Fixtures, which make LED fixtures, say they are seeing a growing business in replacing neon signs in Las Vegas and other cities with LED lookalikes. Restaurants and stores are also experimenting with LED fixtures.
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