Edward Smalley, director of the newly formed DOE Municipal Solid-state Street Lighting Consortium, in a one-on-one interview subsequent to the DOE webcast, initiated the discussion of controls and the potential for additional energy savings. Smalley stated, the reason for the consortium is to get these other municipalities up to speed." And Smalley meant up to speed both on LED lighting and the advantages afforded by controls.

About new LED street light designs and deployments, Smalley stated, "You are designing for a time in the future." The point is that LED street lights must be designed so that the light output 50,000 hours (perhaps 11 to 12 years) in the future is still acceptable. The design must account for the projected decline in light output that all LED lighting products exhibit over time.

Smalley suggests that at install time, "You are putting out 30% more light than is required." So a street light with a controller could cut back drive current by 30% at install time both saving energy and potentially lengthening the service life of the LEDs and the drive electronics. Smalley stated, "We can save at least another 20% in energy."

The concept of operating LED street lights at a reduced power level and raising that level over time as light output declines does introduce logistics problems. A networked installation of lights would allow for remote control of drive current and light output -- at significant added cost. Of course municipalities could manually check light output sporadically and adjust the lights, but that goes against the selling point of little to no maintenance of LED luminaires.

Asked whether municipalities might use networks or manual adjustment techniques, Smalley replied "All of the above." Smalley pointed out that the city of Los Angeles, CA is in a multiyear street light upgrade program and is using the Roam remote monitoring system to monitor and control the lights.