Taxpayers in Rhode Island are expected to save more than $500,000 a year as a result of the cheaper, energy-saving, light-emitting diode lamps now installed in every traffic light owned by the state.
The R.I. Department of Transportation has finished converting 770 traffic signals from standard incandescent bulbs to the new LED lamps.
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About half of all traffic signals in Rhode Island are owned by the state, and the rest are owned by the municipalities, said Robert Rocchio, managing engineer of the RIDOT’s traffic design section.
The $1 million project was heavily subsidized by the Federal Highway Administration, which paid at least 80 percent of the cost.
The investment will also be offset by more than $600,000 in rebates from National Grid, offered as part of the company’s energy-efficiency incentives program.
“This was huge for the department,” said RIDOT chief James R. Capaldi, who this month announced plans to retire at the end of the month, after 36 years of state service and three as the department’s director. “To be able to upgrade our traffic signals at essentially a break-even cost, while saving energy and reducing maintenance costs, is tremendous.”
LEDs are semiconductor chips that convert electricity directly into light. They do not have bulbs, like conventional incandescent lights, but instead use a lens to concentrate and direct their light.
RIDOT expects to reduce its annual electric bill by about $530,000 because of the lower consumption of the LED traffic lights. Each LED lamp requires only 14 watts of energy, compared with 116 watts per lamp for incandescent bulbs.
At a typical traffic intersection, with eight signals heads, the average yearly electricity cost with incandescent bulbs is about $810. With the new LED lamps, such an intersection will ring up an annual electricity bill of $99, according to RIDOT.
And because the new LED bulbs last from five to 10 years, compared with about two years for incandescent bulbs, RIDOT will also save on maintenance calls for lamp replacements, Rocchio said – and motorists will be disturbed less often by work crews at intersections.
The bulb-replacement project began in the summer of 2000, when the RIDOT started requiring contractors to install new LED bulbs during all routine traffic-signal upgrades or installations.
The conversion accelerated four years ago, when RIDOT took on the project itself as the cost of the emerging technology decreased, Rocchio said.
“In 2002, we just went all out and started purchasing the LEDS ourselves,” he said, “and our maintenance people started swapping out the incandescents.”
LED lights also work better than incandescents, and that could reduce traffic accidents, Rocchio said. “They seem brighter, and they seem to get people’s attention much better.”
