White Lights, Green Lights

 In an effort to comply with state mandates to save energy, the folks at University of North Carolina at Wilmington replaced a number of high-pressure sodium light fixtures with lower-energy-consuming LED models. The mandates require a 20 percent reduction in energy consumption by 2010 and a 30 percent reduction by 2015 based on 2003-04 figures. The new lights are expected to save between 50 to 80 percent over the old fixtures.
Beacon Products supplied the institution with fixtures in keeping with the building architecture on campus. Although the fixtures also comply with International Dark Sky Association guideline for preservation of the nighttime environment, the LED light is whiter than the old sodium bulbs, which enhances campus safety.
Don't be concerned that all these "green" efforts will be undermined by a bunch of perfectly good bulbs going to the landfill.
"The bulbs will be used in other fixtures on campus," facilities manager Steve Pickard explained via e-mail. "We still have quite a few 100-Watt high-pressure sodium fixtures [on campus]."