A status of energy efficient LED traffic signals in Korea

Bong-Man Jung, Hak-Geun Jeong, and Soo-Bin Han, Electrics & Lighting Research Center, Korea Institute of Energy Research, Korea

Keywords

LED traffic signal, Korean-type LED traffic signal specifications

Abstract

Concerning Korean energy consumption, 20 % of the total electrical energy (96 % is now exported) is consumed in lighting area. Accordingly, it is one of the most important governmental policies to efficiently utilize electricity due to development and application of high-efficiency lighting equipment. In Korea, widely-built traffic signals employ an incandescent and are of 100W/300 mm, and 280,080set/801,932lamps have been installed and operated by 1999. Of them, 58 % (161,181set), 25 % (69,655set) and 18 % (49,244set) correspond to traffic signals, pedestrian signals and other supplementary signals respectively. It was estimated that electrical energy consumed 28MW instantaneously, 245GWH annually and 20million EU, 40million EU are expended as annual electricity fee and maintenance fee respectively. On the other hand, the LED traffic signal is expected to be a future traffic signal since if traffic signals are replaced by LEDs, energy saving effect of 85 % and drop of 75 % in maintenance fee will be obtained. In this paper, development procedure, main features of proposed Korean-type LED traffic signal specifications, on road test results and economical effects are introduced.