237 street lights upgrading to LED

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Suzanna Plotnikov
  • 81st Training Wing Public Affairs

The Base Operations Support Contract team started upgrading 237 street lights here June 30, starting with Ploesti Drive.

 

“The upgraded lights will provide more distribution of light resulting in improved safety, personnel visibility, illumination during fog season, less power consumption and reduced maintenance cost,” said Shah Viresh, Base Operations Support Engineering Team electrical engineer.

 

“The project is going to take approximately six to seven weeks to complete,” said Viresh.

 

Switching the lights around base will save energy on an on-going basis. The older lights, high pressure sodium lights, use 150 watts each. The new lights, light-emitting diodes, use approximately 100 watts or less and also feature a longer overall service life.

 

“The old lights have a service life of 20,000 hours,” said Viresh. “The LED’s have a service life of 100,000 hours.”

 

The increased service life and decreased energy usage results in lower maintenance costs.

 

“We have negotiated with the vendor to have a 10 year warranty compared to standard 3 to 5 years,” said Viresh. “This could be a trend other military bases might follow.”