Street Lights

To start off the month of February, I am going to write about something that has occurred in the town where I grew up. Needless to say, I don't live there regularly anymore but I still visit quite often. It's a small town so not a lot goes on - but when something does, it definitely gets noticed, especially by me. During the past week, the power company has been changing street lights along the roads in the village - that includes the local roads and the state highway. In my opinion, this is a long time coming. Back in the early 1990's, the power company changed all of the street lights through the downtown section of the village and left the remainders throughout town in tact. The new lamps that were installed are the high-pressure sodium vapor lights; the ones that have an orangish-yellow glow. All of the rest were the old-style mercury vapor lights; which has the bluish-white glow. So all these years later, the power company has finally taken the initiative to make the switch. But I don't think they entirely had a choice.

Back in 2005, Congress passed an energy bill that basically phased out mercury vapor bulbs and ballasts. MV lights are the least efficient high intensity lighting that exists, except for an incandescent bulb which is worse. Sodium vapor and even metal hallide are much better and use much less energy to create light. So back in 2005, MV lights got their walking papers, so to speak. Production of MV ballasts ended in January of last year, meaning when an existing MV ballast fails, they have to be replaced by something else. If a MV bulb burns out, you can still find them but that is about it. So, if you live in a community that still has mercury vapor lights adorning the streets or you have one in your yard, eventually they will be replaced by something else.

It's nice to see the old hometown get with the times, although I think they didn't care as long as they had street lights. It all came down to the power company in making the switch. I had grown accustomed to the old lights around town; even in the neighbor's backyard. That one also got replaced this week by a new sodium vapor fixture. I never would've thought it could make a difference like it did, but even though the light is on our neighbor's property, it still basically lights up much of our backyard. Hey, we're not complaining about it, either. But just like with anything, it takes getting used to something all over again when you're accustomed to what used to be there. The street light across from our house seemed to shine more in our driveway than it does with the new lamp. But it's not too much of a difference, really. It's all about energy efficiency and in this day and age, that seems to be the norm.