Ann Arbor street lights to be replaced with LEDs

The latest locale to join Toronto and Raleigh in the LED City initiative is none other than the home of the Wolverines, which recently announced plans to replace about 1,400 street lights with light-emitting diodes. The city is claiming that it will be the nation's first to "convert all downtown street lights to LED technology," and it's hoping to save around $100,000 per year in doing so. Not surprisingly, Research Triangle Park-based Cree will be providing the components for Ann Arbor's transformation, and it sounds like it'll take a couple of years before the $630,000 project is actually completed. Hopefully, it won't take quite that long before the Maize and Blue can topple Ohio State again.

[Image courtesy of University of Michigan]

[kevynpm Posted Oct 21st 2007 3:10PM]

Cree, Jaffa!

[Jonnyboy Posted Oct 19th 2007 12:43PM]

Ann Arbor FTW

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2007 1:36PM]

"it won't take quite that long before the Maize and Blue can topple Ohio State again."

ya like thats ever gonna happen.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2007 7:55PM]

I was told this would be completed in 2008, not in a couple years. They've already finished quite a lot, but it is an interesting contrast to walk onto the U-M campus where they are still using much dimmer orange lights in the same housings.

[Andygoes Posted Oct 19th 2007 6:47PM]

While I agree that Ann Arbor is much more than the "Big House" surrounded by streetlights, LED lights could provide for some pretty cool ambient lighting. I know this isn't part of the plan and would add quite a bit of the overall cost, but what about multicolor LEDs? On a normal night it would be white (although a more optical-friendly color would be nicer, like yellow or orange), but change the colors for the holidays or the lights on US-23 south of Ann Arbor to alternate red and white when OSU plays at Michigan. Then if Michigan wins (which is a far cry and I'm a UM fan displaced in southern Iowa), the lights would pulse maize and blue as OSU fans drove back to the armpit of the Great Lakes States. The same thing for the UM/MSU game; have I-94 lit up with green and white, although we all know that they might as well leave those on perma-pulse with maize and blue!

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 20th 2007 5:21PM]

Go Bucks!!

Michigan Sucks !!!

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 20th 2007 2:06AM]

How did a great story about an energy saving, job creating, forward thinking city degenerate into a nasty spitting contest between two sporting teams?

Who the F*** cares?

GO BUCKS! Michigan Sucks!

Uh ... despite their thoughtful tree-hugging populace. This IS a fab idea. Note Canadians did it first ... (ha)

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 20th 2007 4:06PM]

The drawback to LED street lamps is that because the LED emits virtually no heat; during the Michigan winter the snow and ice will not melt off the light and thus will cover the signal.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 21st 2007 8:54AM]

Oh, surprise surprise.
There are some LED streetlights already with metal signs on them announcing so. I can't find a picture of one, but I'll take another one whenever I'm by.