08/04/2026
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Each old high-pressure sodium fixture drew 480 watts. The LEDs replacing them draw 80. But the energy wasn't really the point, and the LED wasn't the trick either.
The trick was two decisions most cities skip: specifying 3000K instead of the harsher 4000K, and actually dimming the network after midnight instead of running everything flat out until dawn.
Get those wrong and a retrofit makes things worse. Phoenix started converting to 4000K and had to stop after 400 fixtures. Los Angeles went 4000K and modeling suggests its street lighting now throws roughly 60% more sky glow than the sodium it replaced, even while using less electricity. Same technology, opposite outcome.
So if your city is planning a streetlight conversion, the question to ask at the council meeting isn't whether they're going LED. Everybody is. It's what color temperature they're specifying and whether the fixtures dim.
