The project is aimed at replacing conventional 250 watt street lights with Green LED Technology’s energy saving LED street lights, which only use 112 watts. This project is just part of the company’s objective of converting 100,000 street lights within the next 24 months in Southern and Central Florida.

“It is the Energy Saving Stimulus brought on by the Obama administration that is largely responsible for all this demand, because the saving incurred with LED light is the best way to reduce our overall dependence on Foreign Oil,” said Dror Svorai, President and CEO of Hi Score Corp. “We are working with many municipalities like Coral Springs to convert to LED technology and save taxpayer money,” further added Mr. Svorai.

About Hi Score Corp.

Hi Score Corporation is a leading supplier of eco-friendly lighting products in the Western Hemisphere. It offers its client base the fiscal and ecological practicality of utilizing safe, efficient, solid state green lighting rather than conventional fluorescent and incandescent bulbs. The company offers the best possible selection of high quality, long lasting LED lighting products (with a focus on LED bulbs) that will directly replace existing incandescent, fluorescent and halogen bulbs and compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), ultimately serving the widespread lighting needs of the residential and commercial markets.

“I’ve never had to put up with this in the past,” said Duane Kassens, a driver from West Bend who got into an accident because he couldn’t see the lights. “The police officer told me the new lights weren’t melting the snow. How is that safe?”

The simple answer is, it’s not safe. More than just a paper problem, snow-covered traffic lights have already been blamed for dozens of accidents and at least one death. During a storm in April, 34-year-old Lisa Richter saw she had a green light and made a left turn. But a driver coming from the opposite direction didn’t realize the stoplight was obscured by snow and ended up ramming into Richter’s vehicle, fatally injuring her.

Several states are testing out possible solutions, including weather shields, adding heating elements, and coating lights with water-repellent substances. -Click something.

Chances are most suburbanites were unaware of the long dark night and its significance. Shoppers went on shopping in well-lighted stores, drivers went on driving on well-lighted streets, teens went on texting with well-lighted phones, and people went on watching television in well-lighted homes. Holiday lights shone from every mall, every neighborhood, and every street in town.

The winter solstice, falling smack dab in the middle of the high-watt holidays, is easily lost in the ubiquitous glare of these artificial lights.

The solstice is an astronomical event that heralds a turn in the seasons. It’s best understood if you picture the earth with an imaginary stick through it, called the axis. It turns on its axis while it orbits the sun. Since the earth took its first spin around the sun ages ago, it’s been a bit askew on its axis. It tilts so that half the year the northern hemisphere leans toward the sun (summer for us) and half the year the southern hemisphere tips sunward (summer for the folks Down Under).

When the planet starts leaning away from the sun, the days grow short and the nights grow long. In late December the planet tilts as far as it’s going to go, and we experience the longest night of the year. That’s Solstice Eve. The winter solstice itself occurs today at 11:47 a.m. when the sun begins its slow tilt back toward the sun. From this point on, the length of daylight will increase ever so slightly, an imperceptible few seconds a day at first. The seconds will accumulate to minutes and then hours. Come March, the vernal equinox will mark the time when the length of day equals the length of night. In June the summer solstice will bring the longest day and shortest night of the astronomical year.

People in ancient cultures around the world not only took note of the winter solstice, they celebrated it. While not knowing the astronomical why’s and wherefore’s of the solstice, they anticipated and reveled in the return of the sun. Preindustrial cultures, particularly agrarian societies, lived in synchrony with seasonal cycles of day and night, light and dark, warmth and cold. There were no options to do otherwise – until the advent of electricity.

Thomas Edison’s invention of the incandescent light bulb and the distribution of electric power generation led to the illumination of homes, neighborhoods, cities and roadways. Lighting the night was an exciting venture and it opened a world of nocturnal possibilities. Indoor lighting allowed people to be active at night. Factories could be productive 24/7. Street lighting made it safer to travel at night. Flood lights gave people a sense of nighttime security.

In no time at all, the technology of electric lights took over the Christmas holidays. Precursors to decorative outdoor holiday lights glimmered in big cities at the turn of the century. As technology advanced and lighting became more affordable for the average homeowner, strands of wire with small sockets for colored light bulbs became all the rage. Such lights adorned Christmas trees indoors and were strung along eaves, over shrubs and around lamp posts outdoors. Soon there were contests (sponsored, of course, by General Electric) for the best holiday light displays in suburban neighborhoods. In the 1950s outdoor Christmas lights were a well-established tradition in the United States, and by the sixties entire neighborhoods endeavored to create a seamless stream of holiday lights, eave to eave, hedge to hedge, and lawn to lawn. The cumulative effect was bedazzling. And the longest night of the year faded in the brightness of the lights.

The holiday lighting trend has grown to enormous proportions today. There are enough rows of lights on some rooftops to land a 747 let alone a cargo-laden sleigh. Eaves drip with such brilliant icicle lights you could have open heart surgery on the sidewalk. But strings of lights are just a part of the brilliant extravaganza. There’s a lot more decor to go with. Inflatable icons of elves and snowmen are arranged in one front yard, while baby Jesuses juxtaposed with jolly Santas share the spotlight next door. Red-nosed reindeers (schnozzles aglow) graze outside mangers while radiant wise men approach bearing gifts.

Granted, this is all in good fun and holiday cheer is what the season is all about. The excess of effulgence, however, has drowned the solstice sky. Look to any horizon and you will see a dull orange hue, the ubiquitous glow known as light pollution. Pollution is hardly a term with a festive ring to it – and only a Grinch would grouse about lights at Christmas time, right?

Such a Grinch might have a point, though. Perhaps in all the excitement about lighting up the world at Christmas, we’ve lost something. The longest night of the year is no longer dark. The return of the sun is no big deal when it’s never really dark. Light pollution has insidiously disconnected people from the rhythm of the seasons and the cycles of nature. The winter solstice, once cause for festivities and celebration, is just another day in the countdown to Christmas.

But there are good tidings to bear. Light pollution is the only form of pollution that has a low-cost and highly effective solution. First, there’s the plug. Pulling it is easy and saves you money. Then there’s the dimmer switch. Thirdly, there are many ways to mount light fixtures so that the light doesn’t spread needlessly toward the heavens – or into your neighbor’s bedroom. The International Dark Sky Association has an excellent Web site full of practical tips and alternatives to reduce the impact of light pollution. Check out www.darksky.org for lots of good information.

There’s no need to put the kibosh on all holiday lights. It’s important, though, that the lights don’t blind us from the solstice and all the nuanced changes it brings to the natural world. Darkness comes, light returns, and seasons turn. Go outside tonight and dig the darkness. Search for that star in the December night sky. And be of good cheer, knowing that the sun will return just a little bit earlier tomorrow morning。

Although there are no LED-related reports of crashes or deaths in Michigan, the problem has reportedly led to dozens of accidents in other states.

But the situation is still being addressed, said Utpal Dutta, professor of traffic engineering at the University of Detroit Mercy.

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“We are working on the problem,” Dutta said. “We may put a longer shade on the light to shield it from ice and snow, but we’re not sure about putting a heater into the light. A heater would cost us money to run the lights, which we don’t want to do.

“But we will come up with something down the line. In terms of energy and life cycle savings of LEDs, this is a tiny problem.”

On the rare occasion when an LED signal is covered with snow, responding work crews simply clear it with a blast of compressed air.
Longer lasting lights

Road Commission for Oakland County spokesman Craig Bryson said LEDs are still better than traditional lights because they need to be replaced only once every seven years.

“There were a lot more times where there were traffic signals with burned-out bulbs than there are signals with snowy LEDs,” Bryson said.

The LEDs used in traffic signals aren’t really a single bulb but are actually arrays of hundreds of individual electronic lights about the size of a pencil eraser.

The appeal of the lights is that they use up to 90 percent less energy, last longer and burn brighter than traditional bulbs.

For Franklin residents George and Madeline Haddad, snow on LED traffic lights hasn’t been a problem.

“We’ve never encountered that problem when we’re on the road, and it really isn’t something I’m worried about,” George Haddad said. “I can’t ever remember seeing traffic signals blocked by ice and snow.”

Bryson said a number of circumstances have to merge for the LEDs to be obstructed by ice or snow.

“The wind has to blow at a certain speed and a certain angle to end up in against the lens,” he said. “Plus the snow has to be wet and heavy. This problem happened with the old bulbs as well.”
Cost only factor in switching

William Taylor, professor emeritus of civil engineering at Michigan State University, understands how the LEDs can be driving problem in snowy weather.

“It kind of makes sense that they could cause a snow problem because they’re so efficient that it doesn’t make all that much heat,” Taylor said.

“But should we switch back to the old incandescent bulbs? Only if it eventually costs more for crews to clean off the LED lights than they would save in energy costs.”

LED traffic signals are common on the MSU campus, Taylor said.

“But as a driver, I’ve never noticed any problems with them,” he said.

Semiconductor research company iSuppli on Tuesday forecast double-digit sales growth in the next three years for all types of LED lights, which are increasingly used in everything from street lights to flat-screen TVs. Although LEDs are still mostly used for other lighting applications, LEDs have started to penetrate the residential market as a replacement for incandescent or compact fluorescent bulbs, it said.

 
A recent Sylvania survey shows that three-quarters of Americans have tried different energy-saving light bulb technologies, such as halogen (left), compact fluorescent (center), or light-emitting diode (right).

(Credit: Osram Sylvania) “While the retail prices for LED light bulbs are still about an order of magnitude higher than those traditional incandescent lamps, customers increasingly are becoming aware of the power savings and long life benefits of solid-state LED lights,” according to iSuppli.

LED manufacturers have already released 40-watt replacement bulbs with the traditional Edison shape while some, such as Lemnis Lighting, are marketing a 60-watt replacement that consumes only 6 watts.

Not surprisingly, high upfront costs are a significant barrier to broad adoption. The Lemnis 60-watt replacement costs about $50 and a 40-watt replacement from Osram Sylvania costs about $35.

Still, consumers are considering their options. Osram Sylvania on Wednesday released results from a survey that found 74 percent of consumers changed to a more efficient bulb this year, with 12 percent using LEDs.

The company anticipates that consumers will increasingly consider LEDs for efficient lighting because of the 2007 law to phase out incandescent bulbs in the U.S. by 2012. Nearly two-thirds of people will consider lower-energy options for replacements, although more than half said the price is a “key consideration,” according to company representative Stephanie Anderson.

Osram Sylvania plans to introduce a 60-watt replacement in the spring of 2010, which is a more popular lighting choice that could draw more consumers. The cost will be in the same range as its 40-watt replacement, Anderson said.

“There is an appetite for new technologies. Consumers are not mourning the loss of the 100-watt incandescent,” she said.

The Department of Energy hosts the Lighting Facts Web site, where it lists manufacturers and offers a volunteer labeling system with information on light output and efficiency, expressed in lumens per watt.

If you’re still wondering where to get your lights, check out the choices at Environmentallights.com. This San Diego company carries hundreds of holiday LEDs.

Owner Greg Thorson, who started the company with his wife in 2006, said they wanted to do something that was friendly to the environment and sell a product that had a strong track record of improvement.

LEDs offer great holiday energy savings. They use 80 to 90 percent less energy than traditional light bulbs and have a longer lifespan – 35,000 to more than 50,000 hours, compared to 1,500 hours for incandescent lights.

Also, unlike traditional Christmas lights, LEDs are recyclable.

“(They’re) good for the planet,” Thorson said, “and there’s a lot of demand for (them).”

For the holidays, Environmental Lights has eight-function programmable “chasing” lights that remember settings even after they’ve been turned off. The company also carries light strings for commercial and residential use.

One of its more popular lighting choices is its miniconical wide angle lights. Essentially an indirect light that spreads the light in all directions, it’s brighter and smaller than similar lights, Thorson said.

Among other holiday choices are garlands, artificial greenery wrapped in miniconical LED strings.

There are things to keep in mind when using LED holiday lights that may be different than traditional torpedo-shaped strings, Thorson said.

The lights will probably outlast the strings, he said, so be gentle with the strings, especially when removing them after the holidays. Should one bulb burn out (rare but it happens), the rest stay lit.

For those who like leaving lights up outside throughout the year, Thorson said the sun will eat away at the strings. Since manufacturers consider these seasonal products, leaving them out all year voids the products’ three-year warranty.

Environmental Lights also has a variety of dimmable LEDs, under-cabinet lighting, recessed lighting and more.

As to price, LEDs are still a bit more expensive than standard incandenscent lights. But Environmental Lights makes up for that by carrying a larger variety than most stores.

With Hanukkah starting Friday, many stores are likely to start discounting related supplies soon, if they haven’t already. And, if this year is anything like last — as many retail industry observers are saying — the biggest stores could begin cutting prices on Christmas decor late next week.

Meanwhile, here are four tips on filling your home with the spirit of friendship and celebration — for less:

1. LIGHT EXCHANGES: Energy companies have been making a push to replace consumers’ incandescent Christmas lights with energy-efficient LED lights. They use less than one-fifth as much energy and last much longer — but also cost more. Many companies have been offering the new lights for free, or at a discount, in exchange for old strings of lights. Home Depot’s exchange was limited to November, but Southern California Edison’s, for example, extends to Dec. 20 (or as long as supplies last). Search online for “LED light exchange” to see whether more are planned near you.

2. GET CRAFTY: Nothing looks as domestic and inviting on a tree as garlands of popcorn and cranberries. Francine Jay, author of “Frugillionaire: 500 Fabulous Ways to Live Richly and Save a Fortune,” recommends decorating with all kinds of natural items such as pine cones, poinsettias and evergreen branches.

“It’s one of the more elegant ways to decorate and the least expensive,” she said.

Making natural decorations can also be a great way to involve kids; they especially enjoy adding sparkle by spraying glue onto wreaths, cones and other decor and then sprinkling with glitter.

3. CHOOSE CAREFULLY. Jay recommends a restrained but personal touch. “Not feeling the need to cover every inch of your home in holiday decorations but concentrating on a few well placed items sets a festive mood,” she said.

“Heirloom ornaments, family photographs, and even greeting cards have a lot more warmth, tradition and meaning than something you buy in a store,” she said.

Outings also enhance the spirit in a way few decorations can. Try visiting Christmas light displays in your neighborhood, horticultural center or park to enjoy the season without buying anything.

“You can create a tradition of going to admire other people’s decorations,” she said.

4. SHOP OFF SEASON. Christmas and Hanukkah decorations can cost top dollar in season. But by Dec. 26, and sooner in some cases, you will see discounts of 50 percent and more — especially on bulky items that stores can’t afford to stow for next year, like artificial trees or large lawn ornaments. Check out Lowe’s, Target and Home Depot stores for these larger items, and stop in at local hardware stores, department stores and drugstores for smaller things.

By contrast, the older, larger C9 incandescent lights cost more than $5 to operate 100 bulbs for 100 hours.

“I just don’t think people realize it,” said PNM spokeswoman Cathy Garber. “That would make a significant difference in an electricity bill for people who really decorate a lot.”

The potential savings in electricity generation also means reductions in pollution.

Averaging 500 holiday lights per home in use for seven hours a day for 20 days in December, if one in every four Farmington Electric Utility customers switched to LEDs, the reduction in carbon emissions would be equal to taking more than 500 cars off the road, PNM said.

“The only real reservation people might have is that, up front, they cost more,” Garber said. “But in the long run, they save money.”

As technology has evolved, many retailers have increased the availability of LED holiday lights.

The Target store in Farmington has shifted a majority of its stock to LEDs, said store manager Kenneth Nutt.
“That’s really the selection we have this year,” Nutt said. “If I understand correctly, they use less energy, but they’re supposed to last longer, as well.”
Farmington Utility Director Maude Grantham-Richards said despite the savings, many electricity users are deterred from LEDs often because of the higher price tag.

“I’m not seeing a lot of folks switching over. It is more expensive, and if you have a lot of light bulbs, you’re going to be facing a pretty good bill,” Grantham-Richards said.

But while the “start-up” costs may be high, the energy savings over the longer life of the LED lights could offset much of the initial expense, she said.

The event covers the applications of high-brightness light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and the technology of building LED-based systems. For further information on the event.

Although white LEDs are rapidly becoming very good solutions for many applications, it is important to be aware of marketing hype and their limitations. This program will address these subjects and more, including specfically: How do the best of commercially available white LEDs compare with high performance CFLs, linear fluorescents, metal halide and halogen infrareds? How does temperature affect LED performance? How long do LEDs really last? Does the industry standard CRI (color rendering index) work well for LEDs?

The event will bring EFL manufacturer  component and equipment, lighting designers and major end-users to discuss the latest opportunities and advances in LED technology.

Expert speaker David Mitchell will provide technical insight into areas such as high-power LEDs and arrays, thermal management, optics, and test and measurement. Afterward, the discussion will switch to the use of LEDs in applications such as Street lighting, retail displays, safety and work lighting, as well as the challenge of moving LEDs into mainstream lighting markets.

“The event also provides a perfect platform to launch the first LED Special Interest Group open to anyone with activities that encompass LED lighting systems.”