February 3, 2009

The Honorable Brian Schweitzer

Governor, State of Montana

PO Box 200801

Helena, MT 59620-0801

Dear Governor Schweitzer:

We would be delighted if you would issue an executive order requiring that after February 15, 2009, all roadway and area lighting of state highway projects be accomplished with LED luminaires.

DOE solid state lighting demonstrations indicate:

o Energy savings of 50 to 70%

o Montana payback periods of 4.5 to 8 years for new construction

o Well-received, comparable-to-better lighting when compared to traditional lights

We are well pleased with your initiative that the state government reduce energy usage, but fear that without strong directive in this area, your goal may not be met. Every old-technology light installed now will waste energy for 10-40 years in the future. We hope you will act to stop that.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely, LEDs brighten new I-35W Bridge (Minneapolis)

Russ Doty

3878 N. Tanager Ln

Billings, MT 59102-5916

Phone: 406-696-2842

PS. More information on LED street lights may be found at http://www.newworldwindpower.com/LED%20MENU.htm

Cosigners from the February 3, 2009 meeting of the Billings Conservation Roundtable:

Theresa Keaveny Joan Hurdle Ron Fenex

John Pulasky Eileen Morris Josi Wilgus

Robert Lubbers Carolyn Parrish Merry Ann Peters

Susan W Newell

The following material was supplied to the Governor’s office and the State Department of transportation in April, 2009.

STATE OF MONTANA

Office of the Governor

Executive Order No. ____- 2009

EXECUTIVE ORDER DIRECTING THAT ALL 2009 STATE PROJECTS REQUIRING NEW OUTDOOR LIGHTING BE LIT WITH LED OR ENERGY EFFICIENCY EQUIVALENT LUMINAIRES

WHEREAS many highway projects will be funded through U.S. Pub. L. 111-5, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which among other things has as its purpose stated in § 3(a):

“(4) To invest in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits;” and

“(5) To stabilize State and local government budgets, in order to minimize and avoid reductions in essential services and counterproductive state and local tax increases;” and

WHEREAS climate change driven in large part by greenhouse gas emissions coming from fossil fuel electric generation will adversely affect late summer temperatures and water resources and the health of America’s prairie and forest agricultural base, and scientists predict that by 2020 there will be no year around glacial ice left in one crown-jewel of Montana’s tourist industry—Glacier Park; and

                WHEREAS in recent tests by DOE, PG&E and others, US-made roadway and parking facility lighting luminaires have been shown to:

1) be cost effective,

2) provide superior color rendition and mesopic light,

3) eliminate between 15 and 70% of the electricity needed for nighttime lighting, and

4) reduce peak demand coming from roadway lighting by 15 - 50%, and

5) qualify for Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grants (Pub. L. 110-140, §544(12)), and zero-interest Qualified Energy Conservation Bond funding; and

WHEREAS installation of LED roadway lighting will:

1) minimize counterproductive state and local government tax increases needed to defray nighttime lighting costs of transportation projects;

2) provide long-term economic benefits by avoiding wasteful energy use in those projects for the 12 to 30 year time it takes to amortize the cost of old-style luminaires; and

3) promote use of current, energy efficient technology on roadway construction projects and help protect the environment in conformance with the purposes of Pub. L. 111-5.

                NOW THEREFORE, I, Brian Schweitzer, Governor of the State of Montana, by virtue of the authority vested in me under the State Constitution, and other applicable laws, and to assist federal officials in complying with U.S. Pub. L. 111-5, § 3(b) do hereby direct that where such lighting has not already been contracted for by the date of this order (or if already contracted for, if the contract can be modified by change order), when roadway, parking facility, or other outdoor or traffic related lighting is deemed necessary in any project begun or completed in 2009 (or thereafter if funded in whole or part by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009), managed or administered by a department of this State’s government, or that is funded in whole or in part pursuant to appropriation, grant, tax credit bond, or other financial mechanism of this State’s government, that lighting shall be accomplished only through the use of light emitting diode technology or any other technology of equal or greater energy efficiency.

This order is effective immediately.         Given under my hand and the GREAT SEAL of the

State of Montana this ____ day of _________, 2009

__________________________________

Attest:                                                                          Brian Schweitzer, Governor

__________________________________

LINDA McCULLOCH, Secretary of State

Discussion of higher than 100 watt LEDs. In the DOE/MNDOT Gateway demonstration on the new I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, a block of 16 (Type V THE EDGE™) Area luminaires were installed in the center of the bridge deck. Two (Type III THE EDGE) Area luminaires were installed on the approaches at each end of the bridge deck.

http://betaled.com/docs/BetaLED-I-35W%20Bridge.pdf

The I-35W bridge configuration clearly provides the uniformity contemplated by the LRC. You can see from the road signs that this is a 10-lane bridge. The 40 foot high poles that the luminaires are mounted on are 150 feet apart. Montana typically uses 180 to 220 foot pole spacing and the 40 to 45 foot pole height on its highways. More LEDs or a different lighting pattern can be added if the poles are spaced 200 feet apart, etc. or if needed because of an increased pole height.

There has been some concern expressed about whether or not LED roadway lights meet standards. Thus, it is important to note that the I-35W project lighting had to meet with approval from the Federal Highway Commission, MN DOT (Minnesota Department of Transportation), and DOE. So some manufacturers’ LEDs meet standards.

Each “THE EDGE” luminaire on the I-35W project has 10 light bars with 20 LEDs per bar. Ten light bars driven at 350 milliamps = 257 system watts driving the LED fixtures with the ballast. That compares with 295 system watts for the 250-watt plus ballast HPS fixture used on the old bridge.

Because of the number of LEDs used in this application, the energy savings are not as great as on demonstrations on residential streets (50%), parking garages (59%) or supermarket parking lots (70%) shown in recent DOE Gateway demonstrations. Even so, MN DOT expects an annual energy savings of approximately 15 percent compared to the 250-Watt HPS fixtures previously installed. The largest savings on this project will come from the fact that these LEDs have been rated to last much longer than the previously installed HPS lighting. That is, they will not have to be replaced as often—something that is dangerous work even with the extra lane on each side of the median in addition to the 5 traffic lanes in each direction.

According to Table 1, the LED fixture shown above is rated to run at 525 milliamperes. If you run it at lower milliamps, you get a longer life and less light. If you run it at 700 milliamps the life is less. MN DOT plans to run these fixtures at 350 milliamps so it will not have to replace the luminaires for many hours. The rated L₇₀ life (time when the light from these luminaires decreases by 30%) is projected to be greater than 150,000 hours at the milliamps MN DOT intends to run the lights. That is 36+ years at 4100 hours/year of on-time.

Table 1: http://betaled.com/docs/BLD-STR-T2-HT_80%20LED.pdf