Taiwan switching to LED traffic lights

Taiwan, always known to one-up the global marketplace when it comes to traffic control and street lighting, has announced that within the next three years all of its traffic lights will become LED based. The country's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) has budgeted roughly NT$229 million ($7 million) for the project, which is set to begin in 2008, and will convert 420,000 traffic lights to the LED standard (350,000 have already been changed over). The MOEA claims the total savings in power consumption will be close to 85%. After the sweeping reform of its traffic signals, Taiwan will invest another NT$130 million to swap its street lights out for LED-based models. Nations of the world, the gauntlet has been thrown down.

[Via Digg]

[YacozA @ Jul 4th 2007 3:50PM]

a lot of the traffic lights where my parents live in Canada now have led yellow and greens as well as pedestrian signals

[Joolbin Duan @ Aug 6th 2007 11:25PM]

I support your idea.in fact the LED will be saving much electric power for our present resource.I am from shenzhen,China.After educated from University,I choose the LED INDUSTRY till now.I believe that the LED will promote a revolution in Illuminance.

[Webwolf @ Nov 26th 2007 6:09PM]

Y'know, maybe it's a California/Bay Area thing, but we've had LED traffic lights for quite some time, now. Not widespread, mind you, but as the old, lightbulb-based ones burn out, CalTrans is replacing them with LEDs.

[Shaflugi @ Jul 4th 2007 5:56PM]

Yeah, we've pretty much always had LED lights in the Bay Area. At least, as long as I've been around.

[JoeX @ Jul 4th 2007 6:14PM]

It's not always a good thing.

I live on Evergreen Terrace in Springfield (the one near Capitol City) and they replaced all the old traffic bulbs with LEDs a few years ago. The problem is that I have a jerk for a neighbor who keeps stealing the LEDs to use them on his Xmas lights. It's very annoying and it's costing the city a small fortune. Not that the mayor cares because he's also a jerk!

[KC @ Jul 5th 2007 5:00AM]

True. I'm pretty impressed with Taiwan's cost of only 7 million dollars to replace all the lights. Caltrans probably charged us closer to 100 million for those lights that they've changed so far.

[gregger @ Jul 6th 2007 12:57PM]

California switched to LED lights during the power price gouging years after deregulation. It was supposed to save quite a bit of money and energy over a long time. The program was extremely aggressive and they were rolled out in weeks. I don't know where they got the supply!

They first changed all the red and green lamps (since they fire longest), and now some ambers have been replaced due to natural causes. All new lights are LED oriented now.

The odd flat stoplights are untouched. I don't know what kind of light they are... they glow like an LED sort of, but don't seem to be incandescent. I first saw them in the 80's. They are sort of polarized so that they look a little dimmer at some angles, but bright when viewed head-on (do not apply directly to the forehead!).

TTFN

[Carl @ Jul 4th 2007 3:53PM]

We have had LED traffic lights for the last few years here in Australia, and I know a few European countries have too.

[memodude @ Jul 4th 2007 3:54PM]

Oregon's using LED lights as well.

[sean @ Jul 4th 2007 3:58PM]

i live in the uk and all new lights are LED and all old lights are slowly being replaced,

[Gary @ Jul 4th 2007 4:02PM]

Yeah, we have them in Brussels and Antwerp here in belgium too

[Cristatus @ Jun 17th 2008 8:21PM]

I was just going to mention the same thing about Antwerp, and I thought: wow, we must be one of the first cities in the world to do that. But then I saw these other commtents :(

Which also reminds me: many of the lights in Mumbai, if not all, are LEDs. Many major cities in Gujarat are in a similar position as well.

[Cristatus @ Jul 4th 2007 5:32PM]

I forgot to mention that many Indian cities also have those countdowns next to the lights, but I don't remember about pedestrian lights.

[Rich @ Jul 4th 2007 4:01PM]

How is this news? In Upstate NY I see LED traffic lights everywhere.

[andrew @ Jul 4th 2007 4:10PM]

yep, all over NY in fact..

[bb-king @ Jul 4th 2007 5:40PM]

Yah, Bloomberg had a huge energy conservation campaign in NYC quite a few years ago where all traffic signals and pedestrian signs were replaced with LEDs... Additionally, he replaced many (if not all) of the city office computers with new, 'low' energy PCs...

Nothing new here...

[Kiryen @ Jul 4th 2007 4:00PM]

Now they just have to tell the drivers to obey them...

[TIMMAH! @ Jul 4th 2007 4:12PM]

The unions representing the street sign/signal workers here were opposing the replacement of traffic signals with LEDs because the LEDs have a longer lifespan than bulbs and that was going to reduce the demand for workers to replace the bulbs.

[Matt @ Jul 4th 2007 4:14PM]

This is news? All new lights in Britain are LED.

[malren @ Jul 4th 2007 4:17PM]

Connecticut is packed with LED traffic lights as well.

Looks like the gauntlet has been picked up and carried for some time in this country and others.

[Gregory Cohen @ Jul 4th 2007 4:19PM]

Big deal, Tallahassee, Florida has had these for years and years.

We converted as bulbs burned out. They started with Red (They went first) then Green, lastly yellow. There are still some yellow traditional bulbs around town, but I'm sure those will go soon.

-GReg

[ubi de feo @ Jul 4th 2007 4:31PM]

we have them in amsterdam.
some old ones are still to be converted, but I can remember many since a long time.

[me @ Jul 4th 2007 4:32PM]

In some parts of Kansas I know the traffic lights are all LED. And that's Kansas for god's sake...

[Cardbored @ Jul 4th 2007 4:32PM]

Always had LED traffic lights here in the twin city's suburbs... As far back as I can remember actually... and the Twin Cities are in Minnesota just in case ya didn't know

[TVGenius @ Jul 4th 2007 4:33PM]

California was one of the first to push LEDs... I know for a fact as early as 1998 they were already showing up. In the last five years, they've switched most of our town (NOT in CA... by a couple miles) to LEDs. Our crosswalks even have countdowns now.

[Luis @ Jul 4th 2007 4:40PM]

Here in Mexico there have also been LED traffic lights for quite some time now...

[John P. @ Jul 4th 2007 4:44PM]

I've seen them at lights in Ann Arbor, wouldn't be surprised if they are
being used elsewhere throughout the state. It looks like they've been approved for use here in Michigan since 2004:

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdot_IM04-01_82029_7.pdf

[Ekio @ Jul 4th 2007 4:50PM]

Missisauga Ontario uses LED traffic lights if I remember correctly. Some parts of Markham Ontario and Richmond Hill Ontario uses LED traffic lights as well.

[pablobart @ Jul 4th 2007 4:53PM]

We have it also in Spain, since this year

[trancer @ Jul 4th 2007 4:58PM]

I wonder if the street lights will be bright enough over a large area using LEDs?

[Mads @ Jul 9th 2007 5:03AM]

They have been in Denmark for ages...

[Octavus @ Jul 4th 2007 5:03PM]

Street lights do not seems like a great idea for LEDs, currently Mercury Vapor have the highest efficiency, their light also interferes the least with astronomy because it has very distinct frequencies.

[ryantrevisol @ Jul 4th 2007 9:45PM]

South Florida is now all LED. Which is not supposed to burn out, right? I wonder why some of the older ones have rather patchy LED grids . . .

[tekdroid @ Jul 4th 2007 10:20PM]

Hah. I noticed many dead ones here in Australia, too.

[J @ Jul 4th 2007 5:22PM]

I went to Taiwan 8 years ago and they've had LED signals at least since then. They also have that crazy pedestrian signal with the animated 'green walking man' that starts running as the countdown on top gets below 10 seconds.

[Andrew @ Jul 4th 2007 5:22PM]

St. Louis and Columbia, MO have had them for years... perhaps Taiwain is pretty far behind the trend.

[Tom T. @ Jul 4th 2007 6:02PM]

I wouldn't be surprised if the lights in your city is manufactured in Taiwan.

[Irfan @ Jul 4th 2007 5:22PM]

the post never said it is the first place to use LED traffic lights... its saying its the first place to have use ONLY led traffic lights, including converting all old ones over to LED.

[Paul Kerton @ Jul 5th 2007 10:51AM]

But most countries are doing that already. When bulbs are replaced in UK traffic lights, they are replacing them with LED ones. Most new cars are coming with LED lights as standard here too.

[Yankees368 @ Jul 4th 2007 5:36PM]

Here in NY, almost all state roads have LED based signals. In Nassau County, all new traffic lights being put up are LED based as well.

In this county, the traffic light bulbs on old style fixtures seem to last one year, and are replaced every summer. At this point in time, there are a lot of bulbs burnt out on many traffic lights.

[gxti @ Jul 4th 2007 5:40PM]

Orange County, North Carolina (where Chapel Hill is located) is completely converted to LEDs I think - It's been a while since I've seen a traffic light with a bulb in the county. Raleigh, however, is nowhere near complete, nor Durham if I'm not mistaken.

[Tom T. @ Jul 4th 2007 5:56PM]

For those saying that Taiwan is behind the trend, one should note that Taiwan was one of the first countries to pilot the use of LED lights (afterall, the LED industry is huge there).

As a previous poster mentioned, LED lights has been in place for many years now (more than 8 in my city from what I remember). I believe this "news" is merely about the decision to make a nation-wide changeover (to include the country-side and smaller towns as well) and to expand the energey-saving technology to street lights in the future.

[james @ Jul 4th 2007 6:06PM]

Why are we still on Red, Yellow, Green system, is there a better way to do it?

How about i.e. Counter clock that displays Red, Yellow, Green Numbers... 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... on second thought maybe not =)

[Phil @ Jul 4th 2007 6:24PM]

At the busy intersections here in Vancouver, BC, the pedestrian signals have timers under them showing how long you have left to finish crossing. Knowing drivers also realize that this is a fairly accurate indication as to how much time is left until the light turns yellow ;) (or green if you can see the numbers going the other way)

Oh, and almost all signals are LED now.

[Markarian @ Jul 4th 2007 6:14PM]

We've had them in Sacramento for years.

[Kei @ Jul 4th 2007 6:29PM]

The country of Qatar (especially Doha city) has been using LED street lights AND led bumps for years now....

[number 2 @ Jul 5th 2007 2:40PM]

old news, here in dr evil's secret volcano lair island we've had LED traffic lights since the 1960's.

[dolby @ Jul 4th 2007 11:33PM]

All new traffic lights in Milwaukee Wisconsin are LED. Also all old ones that the light burns out are replaced with LED retrofitted bulbs. Biggest reason every one uses LED is they dont have to spend tons of money having them replaced so often.

Nothing new.

[Ben Schiendelman @ Jul 4th 2007 9:08PM]

Uh, Taiwan already has LED lights. I live in Seattle, and we've had them here for years as well.

[Jose @ Jul 4th 2007 7:35PM]

hey~.. Taiwan has used LED lights for years, many years, since 1998. Taiwan is the world's biggest LED supplying country. Even iPhone is made by their companies. Do you know who invented the walking green man? It's a Taiwanese company. LED lights really saves energy. I've been there before. It is really a very advance country. But I heard that China PRC is trying to take it as their land. The PRC kicked Taiwan out of the UN, and now Tw is trying to get the place back. abraços todos.