Abstract
Purpose
Outdoor lighting is facing major changes due to the EU legislation on ecodesign of energy-related products, such as the ban of high-pressure mercury (HPM) lamps widely used in outdoor lighting. This article presents life cycle costs (LCC) of three examples of replacing HPM lamps in street lighting in Finland. The purpose of the article is to assess how the development of light-emitting diode (LED) technology affects LCCs and how the division of LCCs differentiates in the cases.
Methods
Two of the cases change from HPM lamps to high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps. In the third one, HPM lamps are replaced by LED luminaires. LED technology predictions of price and luminous efficacy are included in different scenarios. The calculations consider investment and operating costs and residual value.
Results and discussion
Each replacement reduces the energy costs approximately by half compared to the original HPM lamp luminaires. Energy costs dominate the LCCs of the HPS lamp installations while investment cost is the dominating one in LED luminaire case. The changes from HPM to HPS technology have payback times lower than 9 years, while changing to LED luminaires is not economic. However, the electricity price is low in this case. The payback times of LED installations can be as low as 6 years if the luminaires are installed in 2015 and an average electricity price is used.
Conclusions
The LCCs of real-life case studies cannot be directly compared, since their luminous properties vary. There is a need for a method for including luminous properties in LCC calculations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities (2010) Kuntien ominen rakennusten lämmön, sähkön ja veden kulutus v. 2009 (only in Finnish). http://www.kuntaportaali.org/binary.asp?path=1;29;356;165748;38145;38171;167158&field=FileAttachment&version=1. Accessed 23 Feb 2011
Bhandari SB (2009) Discounted payback period—some extensions. J Bus Behav Sci 21:28–37
Dale A, Bilec M, Marriott J, Hartley D, Jurgens C, Zatcoff E (2011) Preliminary comparative life cycle impacts of streetlight technology. J Infrastruct Syst. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IS.1943-555X.0000064
European Committee for Standardization (2003) EN 13201:2–4
European Committee for Standardization (2004) CEN/TR 13201:1
Eurostat (2010) Electricity prices for first semester 2010, Data in Focus, 46/2010. European Commission. http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-QA-10-046/EN/KS-QA-10-046-EN.PDF. Accessed 23 Feb 2011
Finnish Road Administration (2006) Tievalaistuksen suunnittelu—Suunnitteluvaiheen ohjaus (only in Finnish). Edita Prima Oy, Helsinki
Fuller SK, Petersen SR (1996) Life-cycle costing manual for the federal energy management program, NIST Handbook 135. U.S Department of Commerce
Hartley D, Jurgens C, Zatcoff E (2009) Life cycle assessment of streetlight technologies. University of Pittsburgh
Jørgensen A, Hermann IT, Mortensen JB (2010) Is LCC relevant in a sustainability assessment? Int J Life Cycle Assess 15:531–532
Kitsinelis S (2011) Light sources, technologies and applications. CRC Press, Boca Raton
Klöpffer W, Ciroth A (2011) Is LCC relevant in a sustainability assessment? Int J Life Cycle Assess 16:99–101
Norris GA (2001) Integrating life cycle cost analysis and LCA. Int J Life Cycle Assess 2:118–120
Sippola V (2010) Replacement of lamps in outdoor lighting due to the implementing measures of the ecodesign -directive. Master’s Thesis, Aalto University
Strategies Unlimited (2009) LED Lighting fixtures, market analysis and forecast, Report OM-45
Swarr TE, Hunkeler D, Klöpffer W et al (2011) Environmental life-cycle costing: a code of practice. SETAC, Pensacola
US DOE (2010a) Multi-year program plan, March 2010. Solid-state lighting research and development. U.S. Department of Energy
US DOE (2010b) Manufacturing roadmap, July 2010. Solid-state lighting research and development. U.S. Department of Energy
Van Tichelen P, Geerken T, Jansen B, Vanden Bosch M, Van Hoof V, Vanhooydonck L, Vercalsteren A (2007) Final report, Lot 9: public street lighting. VITO
Acknowledgements
The work is part of an EkoValo research project carried out by Lighting Unit of Aalto University. The EkoValo project is funded by several Finnish companies and municipalities. The project is part of the Sustainable Community Programme (2007–2012) of Tekes—the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible editor: Wulf-Peter Schmidt
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tähkämö, L., Ylinen, A., Puolakka, M. et al. Life cycle cost analysis of three renewed street lighting installations in Finland. Int J Life Cycle Assess 17, 154–164 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-011-0345-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-011-0345-z