Small US towns are rapidly adopting LED lights, giving way to energy-efficient lighting. Even after the United States pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord, small towns in the US are still taking on the fight.
Sykesville, a town in Maryland is planning to cut “utility costs by 45 to 55 percent” by switching on to LED lights. “It’s hard to argue; I’m going to say, I think, we’re saving $1,000 a month just with the LED upgrades we’ve already done,” town’s Mayor Ian Shaw said.
Similarly, in Carmel, Indiana, 800 street lights were retrofitted with LED bulbs. This is not a one-off incident. In Denver, “The Mile High (Christmas) Tree” is covered with more than 60,000 LED light strands. This is the biggest light up tree in North America and is located along the Speer Boulevard at the Denver Performing Arts Complex.
In Jacksonville, Florida, a Not-for-profit organization by the name Downtown Vision has installed more than 40,000 LED lights which are programmable, in the Downtown area.
This adoption of LED lights, although not related, is a part of a larger concern surrounding not just the US, but the entire world. The global carbon footprint has risen by 0.6% since 2018, which was the record until now. This means that CO2 emissions peaked all-time in 2019.
How LED Lights Help With Global Warming
In response towards Global Warming, LED lights present a solution that is easy to adopt and implement. These micro-efforts collectively make a larger impact. This is in part, the reason why LED lights are sweeping the world by storm for good.
LED technology does what no other technology could ever do. This technology helps convert energy efficiently without losing much electricity. LED lights convert more than 95% of the energy consumed while losing just 5% of the electricity as heat. This saves the environment on two fronts.
One, the LED lights consume much less electricity in comparison with incandescent bulbs or any other technology for that matter. This translates into less carbon-based electricity produced. This, in turn, decreases the emission of greenhouse gases. Second, LED lights do not generate much heat, keeping the environment cooler.
All in all, it is the small US cities that make up the larger America. That being the spirit, small towns are increasingly becoming aware of the predicament that humanity is going to be in if we don’t act swiftly, and now.