A balanced and workable
new transportation plan
for the City of Toronto

Induction Street Lighting

Induction Street Lighting

An Induction lamp is an electrode-less fluorescent. The lamp relies on the fundamental principles of electromagnetic induction and gas discharge to create light. The elimination of filaments and electrodes results in a lamp of extremely long life. Lasting 100,000 hours or 11 years of 24/7 usage, this system can outlast 100 incandescent, 4 HPS, or thirty typical fluorescent lamp changes.

Rationale for Replacing HPS (high pressure sodium) with Induction Lighting. The Induction Light generates more lumens output with lesser energy consumed. A 65W Induction Light can produce similarly perceived brightness compared to a 150W HPS, achieving 60% savings.

Induction Advantages:

60% less energy use than HPS.
Induction lighting has 90 CRI Colour rendering vs. 22 CRI for HPS. Resulting in improved aesthetics and security due to more daylight-like light, rather than yellow tone.
Induction lighting has superior lumen maintenance vs. HPS. At 40% of service life, HPS’s light output and efficacy experience up a 30% decline in light output. Induction lamps retains 95% output after 40,000 hours, 80% after 100,000 hours. You would have replaced 4-5 HPS bulbs in that period.
Induction lighting has the ability to instantly start and re-strike. HPS’s, once turned off in an outage require a cooling off period of 5-6 min before re-strike.

Installations

Induction lamps, which have a warm white light, can replace the older orange high pressure sodium system (HPS) which contributes to light pollution and rising high energy costs. For a few examples of installations of Induction street lighting - the Town of Cobourg, Ontario carried out a complete conversion to Induction lighting in 2008. The City of Brockville, Ontario is also converting to Induction lighting. In the USA, 81 municipalities in New Jersey are now using Induction lighting and the City of Brea, California is fully converting to Induction lighting. Induction is the next generation of street lighting - the way of the future.

Recommendation

These new lamps would be a significant contribution to Toronto's green plan. Induction lighting lasts up to 100,000 hours, while existing high pressure sodium lamps last up to only 24,000 hours. Induction lighting significantly reduces CO₂ emissions and works well in extreme temperatures. LED lights, by contrast, only last up to 50,000 hours and do not work well in cold conditions, which is a reason why the City of Chicago rejected LED lighting. Toronto could significantly reduce its carbon emissions with a conversion to Induction lighting. These lights are also dark-sky compliant and would eliminate the light glow over the city at night from older sodium lighting.

In Toronto, Induction lighting should be installed on all expressways, arterial roads, local streets, laneways and bicycle trails under the jurisdiction of the City of Toronto. Improved lighting would reduce night-time accidents and night-time street crime. Induction is recommended and LED is not.

Originally, in the 1950’s and 1960’s, Metropolitan Toronto (now the City of Toronto) had incandescent lighting in the downtown area, mercury lighting in the suburbs and fluorescent lighting on the municipal expressways. Lighting on municipal expressways was remodeled into low pressure sodium in the 1970’s.

Since the 1990’s, the City of Toronto has orange high pressure sodium lighting on all of its expressways (including 145 high mast lights), arterial roads, local residential streets and alleyways, except for white metal halide lighting in the downtown area. This represents a total of 165,000 street lights. 40,000 of these street lights are white metal halide lamps and 125,000 are orange high pressure sodium lamps.

Click on this link for a history of Toronto's expressway lighting

In 2006, the City of Toronto sold the street lights to Toronto Hydro for $60 million. Toronto Hydro is now responsible for the maintenance of street lighting which costs approximately $11 million per year. The City of Toronto rents the street lighting back from Toronto Hydro for $14 million per year. This costs the City an extra $3 million per year more than if the City were to maintain the lights itself.

Therefore, for the City of Toronto, it is recommended that on all municipal expressways, arterial streets, local streets and laneways, that the City buy back the street lighting from Toronto Hydro and convert it all to new white Induction lamps. This means that all existing high pressure sodium and metal halide street lighting should be replaced with white Induction street lighting using standard arterial and local street Induction luminaries installed on existing brackets, replacing the light only. Induction lighting should be initially installed on new expressways, arterial and local roads, laneways and bicycle trails constructed in the future. Induction lighting should also be fitted along all subway lines in tunnels, stations, open-air sections, garages and bus bays.

On municipal expressways, it is recommended that all of the existing high pressure sodium lighting, on both high mast and conventional poles, should be replaced with new Induction lights using the existing poles. All 145 high mast lights should be remodelled using uniquely-designed 400-watt Induction lights. Standard 200-watt arterial Induction lights should be fitted into all existing 10-metre (30 foot) conventional poles on municipal expressways. At the time of conversion, any broken equipment wuch as wiring and circuits and any missing poles should be replaced. It is also recommended that this policy be continued on new expressways constructed in the future. Existing High Pressure Sodium lighting would only remain on Provincial highways as they are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO).

Financing

The City of Toronto is now facing budgetary, safety and environmental issues. Broken circuits are causing great stretches of roadway to be without lighting which is hazardous. More efficient street lighting will help to improve these situations. Street lighting in Toronto will be scheduled for renewal in the next decade and tests are being carried out on LED and Induction lighting systems.

At an estimated cost of $75 million to convert the entire City of Toronto, it is recommended that the conversion be phased in throughout a four-year period. Savings will be made in maintenance and energy costs of up to $10 million per year. Financing loans from the existing Toronto Atmospheric Fund or private sources could be used and repaid to fund the conversion project so that the City would not need to use its own budget for the project. The City of Toronto sold its street lighting to Toronto Hydro and is renting them from Toronto Hydro for $14 million per year plus the cost of electricity. Any financing for the Induction project should also include funding for the City of Toronto to buy back the lights and bring them under City control once again. If the $60 million which the City collected for selling the lights was repaid, the total cost of the project would be about $135 million. This could be paid back by about $13 million per year for ten years, and eliminating the rental from Toronto Hydro.

The current arrangement with Toronto Hydro will cost the City of Toronto $420 million over 30 years plus the cost of electricity and an eventual buy-back of the lights at an inflated cost. This Induction conversion proposal will cost $135 million, can be financed up front with a private loan and can be paid back within 10 years. The energy costs to the City are then cut by about 50% with the new lighting.

Environment and Safety

With Induction lighting, our cities are better, brighter and safer places. The warm white light brings colour and vibrancy to the city’s nightlife – and because drivers and pedestrians see better and can distinguish colours clearly, they are safer too. The Induction system efficiency is higher, from 30% up to 70% compared to other light sources. The long, reliable service life and low lumen depreciation reduce maintenance costs. High optical efficiency permits you to increase the spacing between luminaires. Induction lighting lasts up to 100,000 hours, while existing high pressure sodium lamps last up to only 24,000 hours. Induction helps the environment - energy savings significantly reduce CO₂ emissions. All white light luminaires utilize electronic control gear. Electronic controls run the lamps at a constant voltage, even where there are (minor) mains power fluctuations. This regulation of the lamp voltage increases the stability and reliability of the lamp and therefore provides for an extended lamp life. It enables the lamps to run for a greater number of burning hours with far less failures. The net effect is a reduction in energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Academic studies have shown that good Induction lighting can save up to 30% of night-time accidents. A significant benefit of improved lighting is the reduction it brings about in night-time crime and in fear of crime. Research suggests a reduction in crime rates attributable to improved lighting can be as high as 25% or more. The research demonstrated that better lighting had positive effects on a number of groups. In the United Kingdom, Dudley and Stoke night-time use of streets by women increased by 28% and 70% respectively. Elderly people benefited significantly through reduced vandalism and disorderly behaviour. Following a survey amongst young people, results showed that there was a significant decrease in victimization amongst 11 to 17 year olds.

The U.K.’s Institute of Criminology’s research concluded that better lighting, such as Induction, produces a profound effect in the community in the following ways: it improves visibility and increases opportunities for social surveillance by encouraging more street use by residents, it improves community confidence and civic pride. These factors combine to work to decrease crime by deterring offenders and the effects can spill over to reducing crime during the day as well as at night. The Institute of Criminology’s conclusions are reflected in the desires for better lighting expressed by residents and detailed in community safety audits and reports. It is likely that the increase in night-time street use will have a positive impact on the local retail, entertainment economy and also in the dynamics of social order. The cultural and quality of life impact associated with lighting improvements is an important area for assessment. One of the main objectives in providing street lighting services is to support the social and cultural needs of the community thereby promoting a feeling of well being and civic pride within the community. The Institute of Criminology’s research suggested that there are also a range of wider benefits associated with improved lighting these include: reduced fear of crime, better quality of life, improved perceptions of the area and the community. Data collected during the Institute of Criminology’s Dudley research project analyzing the relationship between improved lighting and culture and quality of life suggested that there can be a positive effect. Analysis from the research project highlighted a number of benefits including:

19% increase in those feeling very/fairly safe while walking alone after dark
40% increase in perceptions that quality of life had improved in re-lit areas
63% increase in perceptions that the area was well lit
16% increase in those believing local councillors understood problem areas

Induction lamps are specially designed as a full cutoff so that they are dark-sky compliant, thus eliminating light pollution. These lamps will remove that orange glow over cities from sodium lighting and make night skies and stars more clear to see. The white colour will also aid police in identifying the correct colour of vehicles at night, which orange lighting distorts.

Both LED and Induction lighting are being tested by Toronto Hydro on two Toronto streets. LED lighting is being tested on Delaware Avenue and Induction lighting is being tested on Beresford Avenue.

Illustrations of Induction Street Lighting

New heritage Induction lighting installed in Cobourg

New standard Induction lamps installed in Cobourg

Induction lighting being tested on Beresford Avenue in west Toronto

Click on this link for an article about the Toronto Hydro LED and Induction testing programme

Video presenting Induction lighting

Video showing the difference between Induction lamps and High Pressure Sodium lamps

Map showing a conversion to Induction lighting on all existing City of Toronto streets and expressways. High Pressure Sodium would most likely remain on only Provincial Freeways (MTO)

Proposed new Induction lamp fixtures

This is how Toronto's streets and highways will look with new Induction lighting. It is proposed to put them on the Gardiner, Don Valley and Allen Expressways and on all arterial roads and local streets, laneways, subways and bicycle trails

Street with high pressure sodium lighting (left) and after conversion to Induction (right)
Glare is reduced and colour rendition is improved