The California Lighting Technology Center partnered with San Diego Gas & Electric and two Southern California cities on a project to help accelerate the adoption of energy-efficient advanced outdoor lighting control systems.
The project evaluated outdoor wireless lighting control systems that allows for remote operation and monitoring of fixtures using a web-enabled central management system. Laboratory and field assessments were conducted for separate systems installed as part of citywide retrofit projects in San Diego and Chula Vista.
The emergency of dimmable, easily controlled light sources such as light-emitting diodes, ceramic metal halide and induction has increased the interest in using advanced lighting controls with outdoor applications such as street lights and parking areas. Having outdoor lighting systems be able to reduce lighting levels saves energy and improves the environment by reducing light pollution. Advantages of advanced control systems include electric metering, system inventory features and maintenance functions.
In San Diego, existing high pressure sodium (HPS) luminaires were replaced with dimmable induction and LED luminaires controlled by the GE LightGrid system. The existing HPS luminaires in Chula Vista were replaced with dimmable LED luminaires controlled by the Acuity ROAM system.
Both systems reported reduced energy use from the calculated HPS baseline, with a drop of 58.6% in San Diego and 54.9% in Chula Vista. Additional savings from the use of dimming and scheduling are expected once those features are implemented.
Principal Investigator: Michael Siminovitch