LED City Initiative Yields Benefits Beyond Energy EfficiencyWhen Raleigh, N.C., the first LED City, and
Cree, Inc. turned on new LEDs in the municipal
parking garage, people’s opinion of the quality of the lighting
improved threefold.
Survey Shows Public Feels Safer in City Spaces Lit by LEDs
Raleigh exchanged the previous garage
fixtures and their dull orange light for LED fixtures with bright white
light, and people felt safer. The number of respondents who perceived
the garage as “very safe” increased by 76 percent after the LED
fixtures were installed, according to a survey by Mindwave Research of
Austin, Texas.
Cree produces LEDs that provide a
new source of energy-efficient light that can serve as the foundation
for cost-effective lighting solutions. Lighting Science Group
Corporation of Dallas, Texas, supplied the LED fixtures
installed in the Raleigh garage.
“LED technology provides a
clear benefit to municipal infrastructure, as well as to the citizens
it serves,” said Charles Meeker, mayor of Raleigh. “This survey shows
that LEDs can do more than improve light quality. In addition to the
proven environmental and energy efficiency benefits the city has
already documented, the survey shows that LEDs’ bright white light can
help improve public feelings of safety in city spaces.”
The
survey results showed that the parking garage generated a more positive
reaction from most of the respondents after the addition of LED
fixtures:
- Both men and women felt significantly safer
post-installation: 74 percent rated the garage as feeling “very safe,”
while only 2 percent did not feel safe. These figures contrast with the
pre-installation numbers: Only 42 percent felt “very safe” with the
original lighting, and 13 percent did not feel safe.
- The
percentage of respondents who gave the garage an overall rating of
“excellent” increased by 100 percent. The number of people who rated it
as “poor” decreased from 8 to 1 percent.
- The lighting quality
of the garage was “excellent” according to 86 percent of the
respondents, a 258-percent increase from pre-installation respondents.
The number of people who rated it as “poor” decreased from 18 to 2
percent.
- The cleanliness of the parking garage was perceived
as “excellent” by 76 percent of the respondents, while only 58 percent
rated it this way before the LEDs were installed, showing a 31-percent
increase.
Raleigh agrees
to become the nation’s first LED City. The LED City initiative focuses
on installing LED lighting, based on Cree’s energy-efficient LEDs,
throughout the city to save energy and money and boost the quality of
life for its residents by using the best lighting technology
commercially available. As a result, the city has improved the energy
savings and lighting of its municipal city parking facility, the first
of a series of projects aimed at delivering the environmental and
economic benefits of LED lighting throughout Raleigh’s “living
laboratory.”
Research Note: The two
surveys of 200 people each were conducted on behalf of Cree, Inc. by
Mindwave Research, Inc. The pre-installation survey was conducted
November 11-13, 2006, and the post-installation survey was conducted
February 5-8, 2007.
About Cree, Inc.Cree
is a market-leading innovator and manufacturer of semiconductors and
devices that enhance the value of solid-state lighting, power and
communications products by significantly increasing their energy
performance and efficiency. Key to Cree’s market advantage is its
world-class materials expertise in silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium
nitride (GaN) for chips and packaged devices that can handle more power
in a smaller space while producing less heat than other available
technologies, materials and products.
Cree drives its
increased performance technology into multiple applications, including
exciting alternatives in brighter and more-tunable light for general
illumination, backlighting for more-vivid displays, optimized power
management for high-current, switch-mode power supplies and
variable-speed motors, and more-effective wireless infrastructure for
data and voice communications. Cree customers range from innovative
lighting-fixture makers to defense-related federal agencies.
Cree’s
product families include blue and green LED chips, lighting LEDs, LED
backlighting solutions, power-switching devices and
radio-frequency/wireless devices. For additional product specifications
please refer to
www.cree.com.
Green Directory: SolutionsForGreen.com ~ Certification Programs: GreenJobWizard.com
