U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Building Technologies Office – Market-Based Programs

Outdoor Lighting Resources

DOE offers a variety of resources to guide municipalities, utilities, and others in their evaluation of LED street lighting products.

The following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.

Tools

Tools assist users with project planning and analysis.

• MSSLC Retrofit Financial Analysis Tool
  The MSSLC Retrofit Financial Analysis Tool provides municipalities, utilities, and other organizations a method of analyzing the cost and return-on-investment from lighting efficiency projects.

Published Specifications

Specifications help determine appropriate performance characteristics for a particular lighting application.

• Model Specification for Adaptive Control and Remote Monitoring of LED Roadway Luminaires
  The DOE Municipal Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium's Model Specification for Adaptive Control and Remote Monitoring of LED Roadway Luminaires helps cities, utilities, and other local agencies accelerate their adoption of systems that can further reduce the energy and maintenance costs of operating their streetlights.
• Model Specification for LED Roadway Luminaires
  The DOE Municipal Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium's Model Specification for LED Roadway Luminaires enables cities, utilities, and other local agencies to assemble effective bid documents for LED street lighting products.
• The Better Buildings Alliance (BBA) specifications below provide guidance and minimum performance requirements for key applications.
  • BBA High-Efficiency Parking Structure Lighting Specification
    Presents performance specifications for converting traditional HID parking structure lighting technology to high-efficiency alternative technologies.
  • BBA LED Site (Parking Lot) Lighting Specification
    Describes product performance specifications and evaluation procedures for using LED lighting in retail parking lots.

Technology Fact Sheets

Technology fact sheets describe solid-state lighting, its characteristics and applications, and issues related to successful market introduction.

• Establishing LED Equivalency
  Guidance for comparing products based on LED or other light source technologies.
• Understanding LM-79 Reports
  Discusses typical content of laboratory reports summarizing LM-79 test results for integrated SSL lamps and luminaires.

White Papers

White papers explore critical issues that impact SSL technology and market adoption.

• Light at Night: The Latest Science
  Update on current research related to nighttime exposure to light.

SSL Implementation Briefs

SSL Implementation Briefs examine the experiences of municipalities as they investigate and adopt LED street lighting technology.

• Iowa Municipalities Unite to Save Energy with LED Street Lighting
  Describes the collaborative effort of 15 Iowa towns and cities to upgrade their streetlights to LED.

GATEWAY Reports

GATEWAY demonstrations showcase high-performance LED products for general illumination in a variety of commercial and residential applications.

• LED Roadway Lighting: City of Philadelphia Report
  Comparison of the performance of 10 different LED roadway luminaires relative to the incumbent high-pressure sodium luminaires. Philadelphia Report
• LED Roadway Lighting: Cully Boulevard (Portland, OR) Report
  Evaluation of the initial performance of six different types of roadway luminaires installed in side-by-side groupings on a residential collector road. Cully Boulevard Report
  Cully Boulevard Report Brief
• LED Roadway Lighting: FDR Drive (New York, NY) Report
  Comparison of LED luminaires from four different manufacturers to incumbent high-pressure sodium luminaires, and evaluation of relative light output and performance. FDR Drive Report
• LED Post-Top Street Lighting: City of Sacramento Report
  Assessment of the performance of LED technology in ornamental post-top street lights relative to existing
  high-pressure sodium luminaires. Sacramento Report
• LED Roadway Lighting: City of Palo Alto Report
  Assessment of energy, economic, and performance impacts of replacing high-pressure sodium street lights with LED and induction street lights. Palo Alto Report
  Palo Alto Report Brief
• LED Street Lighting: Lija Loop (Portland, OR) Report
  Analysis of the energy and performance impacts of replacing eight high-pressure sodium street lights on one residential street with LED luminaires. Lija Loop Report
• LED Roadway Lighting: I-35W Bridge Report
  Analysis of Phase 1 results, completed in September 2008; Phase 2 involves long-term monitoring to evaluate lumen depreciation, physical effects, and performance impacts over time. Bridge Report, Phase 1
• LED Street Lighting: City of San Francisco Report
  Study of performance of LED street lights from four different manufacturers, installed on four public avenues to replace 100-watt nominal high-pressure sodium luminaires. San Francisco Report
• LED Street Lighting: City of Oakland Report
  Assessment of energy, economic, and safety impacts of replacing 15 high-pressure sodium street lights on two public streets with LED luminaires. 
  Oakland Report, Phase III 
  Oakland Report, Phase II 
  Oakland Report Brief, Phase II

CALiPER Reports

CALiPER testing provides unbiased performance results for a widely representative array of commercially available SSL products for general illumination.

• Round 11 Summary Report
  Includes results and analysis for products tested, including roadway arm-mount and post-top luminaires, linear replacement lamps, high-bay luminaires, and small replacement lamps.
• Round 10 Summary Report
  Includes results and analysis for products tested, including parking structure luminaires, outdoor wallpack luminaires, cove lighting luminaires, and replacement lamps.
• Round 7 Summary Report
  Includes results and analysis for products tested, including outdoor area and street lights, downlights, and replacement lamps.

External Resources

External resources provide various information about LED street lighting.

• LED Street Lighting: A Handbook for Small Communities, from the American Public Power Association, provides guidance for small organizations and municipalities considering an LED streetlight retrofit.

Video

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