dc.description.abstract | The ENEE is a government institute in charge of the management of the roadway lighting in Honduras which is about 3% of the total energy consumption (Negri de Magalhäes & Morales Udaeta, 2008). Over the years, the ENEE began using high intensity discharge mercury lamps which emit a cold light (white), after several studies either environmental or lighting efficiency, they resulted in poor illumination and regarding the environmental issue mercury is harmful to health. After these studies, the ENEE switch to sodium vapor lamps that have a higher efficiency, longer average life and contain a minimum amount of mercury in their bulbs.
This paper performs a feasibility assessment by evaluating the technical, economical an external aspects of the alternative plan. A roadway lighting simulation executed by DIAlux and a RETScreen analysis of the cost and benefits, is being provided in this research in order to estimate the strength and weaknesses of each alternative that satisfied the requirements for retrofitting lighting structures. This type of analyses helped determined the best option to obtain the best approach for the adoption and practice in terms of benefits in costs, energy savings and carbon dioxide reduction.
Findings from the study demonstrate that although the initial costs of retrofitting conventional lighting to LED are high, it was found that energy and maintenance savings are real and these are the main motivations for why many cities conduct LED street light projects. For the proposed case, the fuel saved is 233 MWh, in terms of money the savings ascend to $38,986 (53.3%) annually compared to the high pressure sodium lamps. Financially, this is a viable project, the payback is in 5 years, the NPV is a positive value ($196,689), and there is a high IRR (20.5%) which is an attractive percentage for the investor. Also, the benefit-cost ratio is 1.83, this value being greater than one, making the project acceptable. And the reduction of GHG emission will be 77.5 tCO2 annually.
In conclusion, LED street lights offer an effective and increasingly cost effective solution to the development challenge of municipal energy consumption, street light network expenditures and urban quality. | en_US |