| Shahid Abbas, manager of Arlington City and County Street Standards. |
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In addition to saving money and eliminating light pollution, Abbas said they asked citizens what they thought about the way the light fixtures looked. “For all the good features they provide it can happen that the people just don’t like the lights, you know?” he laughs. They liked the Relume models.
“We’re a very populous area so we wanted to have both adequate lighting and the ability to control it when we didn’t need it as bright. We have different programs for commercial areas as well as residential. We can save as much as 80 percent of our electrical charges [by dimming when appropriate] and keep residents happy because we don’t have bright lights shining in their windows all night.”
Abbas explains that an inspection committee from the International Dark Sky Association visited Arlington and was impressed that the county met or exceeded their international standards. “Soon after the visit,” Shahid laughs, “I started getting calls from all over the world asking me about our lighting program – from Abu Dhabi, even!”
Perhaps it was because Arlington has a number of Washington bureaucrats living within its borders, but Abbas said that the only hitch he had in implementing the wireless control feature of his LED streetlights was getting approval from the Federal Communications Commission to use a specific part of the broadcast spectrum. “It happened in record time, the FCC told me,” Abbas explains. “One of the things we can do, if Washington ever needs to be evacuated for any reason, is show the traffic the way to go by sequentially flashing the streetlights. And, Arlington is the major evacuation route for DC.” The result would be similar to the evacuation lights in the cabin floor of many airplanes that guide you to the correct exit. “You could have major routes flashing in one fashion, and minor routes flashing in a different fashion.”
An additional feature that relates to the safety of his citizens, Abbas explains, is the ability to link the streetlights to the 911 system. “If there’s an emergency and we have streetlights nearby, they start flashing and the public safety people don’t have to look for the address. It’s a pilot program and that’s another reason the FCC acted so quickly.”
The Relume streetlights in Arlington were kits that were used to replace their existing streetlights.
| The Relume Sentinel system can control each streetlight individually. |
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“Retrofit is a large part of our municipal business,” says Lipsey. “It’s an expertise that we have. It’s more than sticking LEDs in a fixture. We have what are called ‘light engines’ to which we add optical design so that the light goes where it’s designed to and isn’t just a blob. It also allows for wireless controls and is about half the cost of a new fixture.” Unlike other systems, each Relume light has its own receiver so that, if necessary, even a single light can be controlled by a central location.
“LED is for real, it’s here to stay,” says Lipsey. “There’s a McKinsey study that says 60 to 70 percent of all general lighting will be LED within the next five years. The worldwide market is between $70-$75 billion, so there’s a lot of opportunity.”