Huntington Beach, CA, is the West Coast surf Mecca for more than eight million annual visitors.  Now the community known as “Surf City, USA” has something else to show off – energy-saving LED lighting.
 
This popular tourist destination transformed the lighting in its downtown entertainment district by upgrading to LED lighting fixtures. The new LED street lights, manufactured by Sternberg Lighting, use only about half the energy of the city’s previous fixtures, and their output can be adjusted based on downtown activities.
 
“We looked to LED lighting to improve the quality of light in these high traffic areas. Yet the reduction in maintenance costs coupled with longer service life and potential for field controllable dimming are benefits that can’t be ignored,” said Aaron Klemm, energy project manager for the city of Huntington Beach.
 
The new system allows the city to increase light levels when needed, such as during crowd-drawing events like the U.S. Surfing Open, and also on weekends when pedestrian traffic increases.  The city can also reduce lumen output and save energy when less light is required. The state-of-the-art adaptive system gives the city flexibility to create a well-lit environment during peak shopping and dining hours and less lighting when the streets are empty.
 
Installation Details:
 

• Sternberg Lighting installed 42 A850SRLED acorns in a 3500K color temperature on a three-block section of Huntington Beach’s main street beginning at the pier and proceeding through downtown. The lights feature Cree XLamp XR-E LEDs.

• Sternberg’s 96-watt LED acorns replaced 150-watt high-pressure sodium prismatic acorn fixtures that were drawing 188 total system watts per light.

• The new LED street lights utilize Exergy’s wireless control system. With the wireless controls, the system achieves an energy savings of 67 percent.  Even without the controls, the energy consumption would have dropped by 49 percent if the lights were run at full output.

• The light quality on the street improved significantly, with the color rendering index increasing from 21 with the high pressure sodium lights to 80 using the 3500K LED lights, while at the same time virtually eliminating glare that had been shining into second story windows.

The wireless control system allows both city hall staff and police to adjust light levels as needed. Typically the city maintains a standard light level of 70 percent lumen output, which is still an improvement over the previous high pressure sodium fixtures. The city increases lumen output to 100 percent after 12:30 a.m. on the weekends, when folks begin to leave local bars and restaurants. On weekdays, the output is decreased to 40 percent from 4 to 7 a.m., when traffic is generally low.
 
“One of the best compliments I received came from a police officer who said that the difference in appearance between the old and the new lights is almost unnoticeable, while the light levels and the quality of the light are so much better now,” said Paul Mitchell, who manages national sales & education for Sternberg.