National collaboration targets LED street lights

Cities, power providers and other organizations that invest in street and area lighting can now share their experiences through national and regional meetings, Webcasts, and similar means. The DoE recently set up the Municipal Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium to collect, analyze, and share information and lessons learned about LED street-lighting demonstrations to facilitate the adoption of this energy efficiency technology.

Though the MSSSLC was set up with cities and municipalities in mind, firms engaged in designing and building LED street lighting will probably be interested in its efforts. Its goal is to build a repository of valuable field experience and data that will significantly accelerate the learning curve for buying and implementing high-quality, energy efficient LED street lights.

This DoE effort is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Many cities and towns are using Recovery Act funding distributed through DoE's Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants Program to move toward their energy efficiency goals.

Of particular note to manufacturers and designers is that guests, including manufacturers and consultants, may be invited to present information on selected topics at future Consortium meetings and will be given the opportunity to review draft specifications and other materials prior to their issuance.

More info about the consortium is available on the DoE site: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ssl/consortium.html