The expected as well as the not-quite anticipated effects of the LED street light project of the City of Los Angeles – one year later

Last year, the City of Los Angeles underwent the world's largest replacement of its entire street light infrastructure with a new LED street light one.

The project was officially completed about a year ago on June 18th, when the Mayor Villaraigosa announced that the first phase of the project was complete and that more than 141,000  street lamps were swapped with the modern LED street light.

There are other US cities which have also done this.  For example, 42,000 street lights were outfited with LED fixtures, there are also similar plans for a modernization of the street lighting in Austin as well as in San Antonio soon too.

But the LED street light project in Los Angeles was the biggest one, made possible with the Clinton Climate Initiative as well as the C40 Cities Climate Leadership group.

According to the forecasts, the City of Los Angeles must have saved about $ 7 million for electricity and $2.5 million from maintenance costs for one year.

Previous research has shown that the city lights may account for up to 40% of the electricity bill of the city.  The modern LED lights which have been used to replace the old ones use up 64% less electricity than them and last a lot longer than the HPS lights, plus it comes with a 7 year warranty from the supplier.

Because of their excellent cost and energy efficiency, the forecasts are that the shipments of LED lights will grow from 3 million units in 2012 up to 17 million units in 2020, according to Navigant Research.

The second stage of the project will include the replacement of 70,000 decorative street lamps which are so typical of Los Angeles.

In fact, this huge replacement project has led to the realization made by Dave Kendricken theat “Hollywood will never look the same” which he wrote for No Film School earlier this year.

The reason for this statement is that the new LED street light is blue-tinted, unlike the very specific  yellow hue of the HPS streetlights.  This fact, according to Kendricken will completely change the way the city looks on camera.

The author at No Film School gives a specific example, by citing the 2004 movie “Collateral” which according to him relies heavily on the street lighting of LA, and that it had been officially chosen to be shot in nighttime Los Angeles in order to show that specific yellowish street light.

And for those who will say that everything can be fixed by Photoshop and image editing programs, Kendricken claims that actually LED light is not easy to mask.

The author claims in his article, that the difference from the LED street light replacement in LA can be so big that in the future the street lights in certain cities and places may actually become subject to historic preservation laws.

Other authors are wondering how the new outdoor LED street light in LA will affect the psychology, neurology and sleeping patterns of residents and guests of the city too.