LEDs on your tower are the long-term “green solution”, easier on your wallet and easier on Mother Earth.
A Green Opportunity
If you are still operating your tower’s obstruction lighting system with incandescent or xenon technology, you are missing out on a unique opportunity to not only reduce costs and eliminate the hassle of lighting system repairs, bulb changes and maintenance, but also to select a solution that is good for our environment. Tower Lighting as a Service℠ (TLaaS℠) presents an unprecedented opportunity to move to eco-friendly LED with No Upfront Costs and realize these benefits. Let’s walk through the details.
Some Facts About LED’s
An LED lamp is an electric light used in lighting fixtures that produces light using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED lamps have an electrical efficiency and lifespan which are much greater than incandescent lamps and other legacy lighting technologies.
A typical household lightbulb provides a great example of the benefits of this technology. Here is a comparison between two lights that put off the same amount of light – one incandescent and the other an LED.
(Source: Wikipedia)
A traditional 60W household incandescent lamp will provide 800 lumens of light and last about 800 hours. The equivalent LED lamp will produce the same 800 lumens of light but only use 8.5W of power and last 31 times longer. Tower lighting LEDs exhibit similar benefits and result in a major leap forward in efficiency and longevity. The benefit is further multiplied since tower obstruction lights are often hundreds or thousands of feet above ground level meaning replacement has large labor costs and safety considerations.
Summary of Environmental Benefits
Electricity
– The most obvious eco-friendly benefit is reduced electricity consumption. Tower LED systems use ~90% less electricity than outdated legacy incandescent systems. For every type of
FAA Tower Style
this is a significant environmental benefit over the life of the system.
Cost of light bulb replacement:
The FCC requires that lit structures remain lit, but depending upon the type of lighting system and bulb, the life of that bulb will vary. If a light bulb goes out, that light bulb must be changed. Since LED’s are in a whole different class with lifespan estimates 10-25 times greater than the older technology, bulb changes are very infrequent. There are tremendous environmental savings that result from this:
- Fuel and energy for tower crew labor to replace bulb.
- Elimination of energy to manufacture, transport and store the old technology replacement.
- Eliminate all the energy consumed in the project management, safety protocols, site visits for inspection and other labor associated with bulb replacements.
Disposal Considerations
– More frequent replacement means more materials being disposed of. The disposal of these many bulbs in landfills is another environmental cost of the legacy technology that LEDs minimize.
Light Pollution
– In some cases the new LED technology utilizes a technique to beam the light directly out and up from the lighting fixture. This is difference from the traditional method which is more omni directional. The resulting difference is less light pollution to the people on the ground. The newer technology provides less pollution to communities on the ground while still alerting aircraft in the sky of the presence of an obstruction.
Avian Considerations
– The FAA has released new standards for obstruction lighting to minimize impacts on migratory birds (see What You Need to Know About Avian Lighting Regulations). In some cases, this new standard eliminates certain non-flashing lights altogether, and in other cases, it stipulates conversion from steady burning to flashing obstruction lights. Studies show that these changes minimize the impact on migratory fowl. Moving your towers’ lighting system from legacy technology to the new LED technology provides an opportunity to upgrade your system and ensure compliance with these new standards designed to help our avian friends.
TLaaS℠ - A New Option to Upgrade to LEDs
A unique option to install environmentally friendly LEDs is
TLaaS℠, a proprietary solution offered by LumenServe℠. TLaaS℠ includes:
- Installation of New LED Lighting System
- Certified installation of the best LED obstruction lighting systems available pursuant to manufacturer's specifications to ensure full warranty compliance.
- Draft FAA Required Paperwork for Lighting Change
- Draft all the required FAA form filings, from documentation through submission, including. process approval, new installations, advanced notifications, and compliance.
- Decommission of Old Lighting System
- Decommission and remove the old lighting system, including old lighting fixtures, electronics, and cabling. All decommissioned equipment and materials are properly disposed of.
- Installation Close Out Package Documentation
- Photo documentation of the entire system is provided to tower owners in a professional close out package.
- Assurance Warranty
- It includes an Assurance Warranty
which provides for all parts and labor to ensure the system is functioning properly.
- FAA Compliance Services
- Compliance and monitoring
and FAA required Tower Inspection Services.
LumenServe℠
can help you analyze the costs and benefits of all your options. Also, don’t forget, as the nation’s first Tower Lighting as a Service℠ company, LumenServe™ can provide qualified customers with a lighting solution that requires
no upfront costs.
Let us look at your situation and see if we can help you “Go Green” with your tower lighting.
For more information, please contact LumenServe℠ at: