Joining the ever-growing number of smart cities that have chosen more efficient technology to light their streets and saving money in the process, the City of Carpinteria in November 2011 completed its retrofit project of replacing all its existing city-owned high-pressure sodium (HPS) decorative street lights with energy-efficient LEDs. The lights are located on several blocks of Linden and Carpinteria Avenues in the downtown area and include lights on the Amtrak rail platform and its adjoining public parking lots.

According to the city’s calculations, each of the 199 HPS lamps at 138 watts each consumed 604.4 kWh annually—a total of 120,284 kWh and an energy cost of $15,035 (at $0.125 per kWh, 12 hours of operation each evening). With the switch to the brilliant and more directional LEDtronics 29-watt LED bulbs, the annual energy cost came down to less than $3,160—a dramatic 80 percent savings. In addition, the LED bulb life is four to five times longer than the replaced HPS bulbs, resulting in reduced maintenance costs that yield additional savings.
In addition to the $11,600 savings on its annual energy bill, this reduction in power usage by 96,000 kWh translates into a decrease of its carbon footprint by an estimated 33 tons of CO₂ yearly.
“I like the results very much,” said Matthew Roberts, director of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department that installed and maintains the street lights. “The LEDtronics lamps fit into the existing light fixtures with only minor modifications and look great. I think the consensus is that the new bulbs produce fewer glares, are easier on the eyes, and have a very appropriate color temperature for our needs.”
The Santa Barbara County city is a coastal community of 13,040, with small-town charm, beautiful beaches and breathtaking mountain views. It hosts the annual California Avocado Festival.
“All of the lights installed so far have worked as promised,” says Roberts. “It’s great to know our streetlight electrical meters are turning more slowly, saving tax dollars. It’s also nice to know the products were assembled in the USA.” The product was designed and engineered at the LEDtronics factory in Southern California.

The project started in early 2010, when the city began to study the conversion of pendant street lights in its downtown area to LED bulbs that are more energy-efficient, cast a more natural warm light and reduce light pollution. They looked for solutions that were cost-effective, more environmentally friendly and also more night-sky friendly.
After testing the LEDtronics LED30HPS-600-SIW-002-BU pendant lamp for two months, the city applied for funds and received $74,117 from the California Energy Commission under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program from the U.S. Department of Energy, which is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The bulbs are certified “Made In USA.” The total project cost was $78,580.
Carpinteria’s lighting efficiency project is in line with the California Long Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan, which holds the state’s local governments to be leaders in energy efficiency by 2020, both for their own facilities and throughout their communities. The city so far has replaced over 90% of its traditional street lights with LEDs.
According to city officials, the LEDtronics LED bulbs were selected because of their high efficiency, appropriate 3000K color temperature, and because they fit inside the existing globe diffusor without significant modification. The new LED bulb also allowed for the elimination of the HPS bulb's ballast and starter. As well, LED bulbs produce little or no ultraviolet light (UV) which, as generated by the HPS bulbs along with the high heat, causes the polycarbonate globe diffusers to yellow and become brittle.
With longer life for the globe diffusers and reduction of visits to each light by maintenance staff, the 10-year projected cost savings is expected to reach $150,000. This is in addition to the significant energy savings inherent in the LEDtronics LED bulbs that the city has already started to enjoy.
About LEDtronics^®
Based in Torrance, California, LEDtronics, Inc., since 1983 has been a world leader in designing, manufacturing and packaging Solid State Lighting products and state-of-the-art LEDs to meet the world’s constantly changing lighting needs—from industrial control panel LED indicator lights to solid-state LED street lights, from direct incandescent- replacement based LED bulbs to direct fluorescent-replacement T8 LED tube lamps.
About LED30HPS-600-SIW-002-BU
More information is available online for the LED30HPS-600-SIW-002-BU series of post-top LED lamps:
http://www.ledtronics.com/Products/ProductsDetails.aspx?WP= 2152

LEDtronics’ light is truly all around us and has been since 1983.

• Using 900 watts of energy per pendant fixture, that resulted in creating inefficient lighting in the library’s main common areas
• Shorter life cycle of both bulbs and ballasts resulted in costly maintenance

LEDtronics^®, Inc., the industry’s most innovative LED lamp manufacturer since 1983, announces a family of sunlight-visible, bayonet-base 6/7 LED cluster lamps as replacement for incandescent T3¼ miniature bulbs whose critical status indication is the determining factor and relamping costs are a major consideration. The LEDtronics LED lamps feature a 90% reduction in power consumption (very low power draw of 0.8-0.91 watts, depending on the LED light color) and directly replace numbers including 6MB, 44, 47, 755 (5/6V) 12MB, 756 (12/14V), 24MB (24V), 313, 757, 1819, 1829 (28V), 48MB (48V), 60MB, 1835 (60V), 120MB and NE51H (120VAC).
The solid-state design of the BF3126 and BF3127 Series LED lamps renders them impervious to electrical and mechanical shock, vibration, frequent switching and environmental extremes. They boast faster turn-on and reaction time compared to filament lamps, yet provide comparable luminous intensity and pure wavelength light for a more uniform illumination.
These miniature bayonet base bulbs are available in the following LED light colors, all sunlight-visible: 470nm Super Blue (InGaN), 525nm Aqua Green (InGaN), 570nm Lime Green (InGaAlP), 595nm Super Yellow (InGaAlP), 612nm Super Orange, 660nm Ultra Red (GaAlAs/GaAlAs), 8000K Cool White (InGaN) and 3000K Warm White (InGaN).
Designated as the BF3126 and BF3127 Series, these lamps are both socket and circuit compatible for easy installation and interchangeability. They feature a wide viewing angle of 120 degrees, are rated at 100,000 hours MTBF for color light and up to 50,000 hours for white LED light, and are field-replaceable for quick convenience and safety. In typical applications they provide sharper, higher intensity illumination and better visibility than standard lamps and achieve full brightness more rapidly.
The BF3126 and BF3127 Series LED lamps are ideal for industrial control panels, lighted switch gear found in water treatment plants, nuclear, coal or gas-generated power plants, aircraft instrumentation, elevator panels, automobile dash lighting, audio and intercom panels, broadcast equipment and medical instrumentation, to name a few.
The BF3126 and BF3127 Series can be specified in virtually any combination of colors and operating voltages to fit the customer’s specific configuration and voltage requirements. These LED lamps are offered in a choice of voltages—6VDC, 12/14VDC, 24VDC, 28VDC, 120VAC, 130VDC.
Priced at $17.50 to $21.50 each in the five-piece quantity, the BF3126 and BF3127 Series is available in production quantities in 3 to 5 days, with samples and/or prototype quantities available to qualified customers in 1 week.
About LEDtronics^®
Based in Torrance, California, LEDtronics, Inc., since 1983 has been a world leader in designing, manufacturing and packaging Solid State Lighting products and state-of-the-art LEDs to meet the world’s constantly changing lighting needs—from industrial control panel LED indicator lights to solid-state LED street lights, from direct incandescent- replacement based LED bulbs to direct fluorescent-replacement T8 LED tube lamps.
Webpage to browse the on-line product information for the BF3126 and BF3127 Series:
http://www.ledtronics.com/Products/ProductsDetails.aspx?WP=1079

Kyle Everson, Distributor Sales Manager at LEDtronics, has worked in the electrical and lighting industry for over 20 years and is a second generation lighting specialist. He began working at LEDtronics in 2007 and now functions as a liaison to the distributors that the company sells their products through. He keeps these distributors current on product knowledge and application as well as allowing them to guide LEDtronics in product development.

Kyle travels the continental US three to four months a year to visit distributor companies, project sites and rep companies that support the distributors. He spends much of his time educating on products, applications and the merits of LED lighting. “We bring so much history to the game. It is important for our end users to understand that they are dealing with the pioneer of the industry and not someone who has just learned to spell LED,” says Kyle. In order to stand out among competitors, LEDtronics works to stay innovative and ahead of the game.

Kyle’s years of experience in the lighting industry have also brought him an appreciation for the team he is now a part of. He comments, “Pervaiz has done a wonderful job of creating a family atmosphere and seeing to it that it is sustained in an ongoing manner.” Kyle appreciates the company’s charitable nature and willingness to support one another’s causes. “There is very little friction between us all because we feel that we are in this together.”

As a result of Kyle’s position at LEDtronics, he has had the privilege of taking in some of the local sights and sounds of his business trip destinations. “Probably the most surprising natural site was Niagara Falls, it took my breath away,” said Kyle. He has also visited five different presidential libraries and raced a lap around Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But while his sightseeing has been enjoyable, his favorite thing about traveling with LEDtronics has been the hundreds of new people around the country he has had the pleasure of meeting.

When Kyle is not traveling he enjoys time with his four grand children and cooking for his family, especially his signature Yankee Pot Roast.