Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C. are seeing better at night, and cutting electricity usage by half, thanks to new LED roadway lights. Nearly 1100 metal halide and high-pressure sodium streetlights throughout Camp Lejeune roadways are being progressively replaced through the end of this year with 75- and 105-watt EvoLucia(TM)-brand LED luminaires, from LED manufacturer Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc. This replacement reduces energy just below 50% compared to the metal halide or high pressure sodium lights. Sunovia delivered the first of the 1092-piece order in mid-October.

The new LED lights are cobra head in style and are mounted on existing roadway lighting poles, saving Camp Lejeune, and federal taxpayers, the cost of installing new poles. The new LED cobra head luminaires are completely maintenance-free, requiring no lamp replacements for more than 12 years of nighttime use, dramatically reducing the high constant expense of replacing lamps and ballasts in older technologies.

The new LED luminaires project more than 50 lumens per watt consumed, a relatively high light output considering the low amount of input energy. They contain the newest high-brightness Cree(R) LEDs and employ Sunovia's patent-pending Aimed Optics(TM) technology to focus maximum light on the ground, virtually eliminating glare, wasted light and light pollution. Specialized cool color rendition allows for considerable visibility, and Camp Lejeune representatives noted that they are able to see colors of objects clearly in the LED light, which was much more difficult in the orange glow of the old metal halide fixtures.