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How LED street lights helped reclaim and transform downtown Los Angeles

By intouch * posted 20-02-2017 15:53

  

Illuminating the streets of downtown Los Angeles with clear, soft white LED light has played a significant role in reducing street crime, increasing public confidence and breathing life back into the area.


LA Bureau of Street Lighting Director Ed Ebrahimian.

The City of Los Angeles is home to one of the world’s largest and most advanced LED street lighting deployments, which the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting Director Ed Ebrahimian says is contributing to the downtown area’s well-documented transformation from ghost town to chic metropolis, especially at night.

“People feel much more comfortable coming to downtown Los Angeles now at night, as opposed to before,” Ebrahimian explains.

“LEDs bring a sense of security. There's no question; we've seen people’s sense of comfort increase.”

In 2009 – years before many other cities began similar deployments – the city began phase one of an ambitious $57 million project to convert its 215,000 street lights to LEDs.

Now 80% complete, the rollout saves the city $9 million a year in energy costs – a reduction of 65% – and reduces the city’s annual CO2 emissions by 60,000 metric tonnes. Since installing the reliable LEDs, the city’s maintenance bill has also been slashed.

Ebrahimian will discuss the successes and lessons learned from the city’s LED rollout with delegates at the 3rd International Street Lighting + Smart Controls Conference, coming to Brisbane March 14 – 17.

“The crime rates of small crimes have been reduced at night,”  Ebrahimian says. “Downtown LA, right now, is going through a major transformation.”

“If you were here 10 years ago you would say, ‘Downtown Los Angeles is a dead place’. Today, you see more than twenty cranes in downtown Los Angeles and they're all building high-rises, condominiums and apartment buildings. The whole idea of people coming to downtown has flourished during last few years."

Although there are numerous factors contributing to the area’s gentrification, making the streets safer and more inviting at night has undoubtedly played a role.

“When I walk in downtown Los Angeles, there’s been a huge improvement as far as livability is concerned, no question about it – and street lighting is a part of that. You feel a lot safer when you're walking. The LED fixture light distribution has reduced or practically eliminated dark spots where you wouldn’t otherwise feel comfortable passing by,” Ebrahimian says.

The city has also begun fitting all of its street lights with smart controls.

“They give us the ability to measure the power and also to control the lights; turn them on or off, or even dim them in case of an energy crisis,” Ebrahimian explains.

In addition, the massive energy savings from the LED street lighting deployment is allowing the city to power electric vehicle charging stations attached to street light poles.

With the support of Mayor Eric Garcetti – an electric vehicle enthusiast – thirty-two stations have already been installed, with plans for another 50 this year.

“LED conversions reduce the load on the street lighting circuits because they don’t draw that much energy, and as a result of we have power available that can be used for other purposes,” Ebrahimian says.

“We consider it a smart city approach.”

The city has also started monetising its light poles – and simultaneously improving mobile phone coverage and capacity – by marketing them to telecommunications companies. Existing streetlight poles are being replaced with ‘smartpoles’, which can accommodate the small cells needed for cellphone signals. The city has already replaced 95 such poles during the past year, and approximately 500 additional poles will be installed during the next four years.

The telecommunications companies pay for the installation of the pole, then lease the pole from the city for approximately $1000 a year.

“It’s a perfect example of a successful Public Private Partnership, and a program we are really excited about,” Ebrahimian says.

Don’t miss Ed Ebrahimian’s presentation at the 3rd International Street Lighting + Smart Controls Conference, where he will discuss how street lights have become desirable for smart city initiatives, with new cutting edge technologies and various revenue generating applications.

Register now. 
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