Toronto Shifts to LED Lighting as Answer for Energy Efficiency
The Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA) today announced that Toronto is joining Raleigh, N.C. in a citywide initiative to install light-emitting diode (LED) lighting throughout its infrastructure. The LED City™ program, which was launched in February by City of Raleigh officials and LED manufacturer Cree, Inc., fosters collaboration among municipalities as they deploy energy-efficient lighting to deliver cost savings and environmental benefits.
As a part of the LED City program, TABIA will evaluate, deploy and promote the use of LEDs across multiple lighting applications. Toronto citizens should notice LEDs appearing throughout parks, parking garages and in architectural lighting over the coming months. LEDs provide an energy-efficient, mercury-free solution helping to preserve the environment, while delivering more-flexible and longer-lasting lighting than traditional lighting technologies.
Toronto has been a center for LED consumer education and an early adopter of LED lighting. Over the past four years, TABIA has proactively demonstrated the advantages of LEDs to Toronto residents and businesses, and the use of LEDs has evolved from a holiday-light exchange and installation program to the application of LEDs in retail displays and streetlight installations, such as the one at Exhibition Place.
Today’s commitment to the LED City initiative shows a willingness to increase its use of the technology in order to support the Canadian legislative agenda focused on energy efficiency. Toronto’s use of LEDs further supports its participation in the William J. Clinton Foundation’s Climate Initiative to accelerate greenhouse-gas emissions reductions and slow global warming.
This announcement comes on the cusp of Toronto’s conversion of the CN Tower lighting to more energy-efficient LED lighting, which is designed to use 60-percent less energy than the Tower’s lighting did in the 1990s. Other current and planned LED projects include solar-powered LED lights in a park and LED lighting in a public parking garage.
"Combating climate change is the issue of our time, possibly of all time and Torontonians are demanding that this city lead by example," said Toronto Mayor David Miller. "Through the use of cutting-edge, energy-efficient technologies, we can and will be a leader. We expect that by deploying LEDs throughout Toronto, including on our most famous landmark, the CN Tower, we will be accomplishing the goal of reducing energy use and costs and greenhouse-gas emission."
“LED lighting enables cities such as Raleigh and Toronto to save energy, preserve the environment and save our taxpayers money,” said Mayor Charles Meeker of Raleigh. “LED suppliers like Cree provide a technology that gives us access to a new generation of energy-saving lighting options for our municipal infrastructure.”
“Toronto and Raleigh understand how important it is to set the pace for a new generation of energy-conscious citizens and government leaders,” said Chuck Swoboda, Cree chairman and CEO. “LED technology is clearly making progress towards widespread adoption for government, commercial and residential applications. We are pleased to be part of the revolution in lighting, making an important, positive impact on our world.”
About the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas
The Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA) is a non-profit umbrella organization representing the City of Toronto's 60 Business Improvement Areas, who in turn represent more than 25,000 business & property owners. The organization’s objectives include exchanging information among BIAs, encouraging joint initiatives and mutually beneficial projects and assisting in pooling resources to achieve the maximum benefit feasible. For more information, please refer to www.toronto-bia.com .
About Cree, Inc.
Cree is a market-leading innovator and manufacturer of semiconductors and devices that enhance the value of solid-state lighting, power and communications products by significantly increasing their energy performance and efficiency.
Key to Cree’s market advantage is its world-class materials expertise in SiC and GaN for chips and packaged devices that can handle more power in a smaller space while producing less heat than other available technologies, materials and products. Cree drives its increased performance technology into multiple applications, including exciting alternatives in brighter and more-tunable light for general illumination, backlighting for more-vivid displays, optimized power management for high-current, switch-mode power supplies and variable-speed motors, and more-effective wireless infrastructure for data and voice communications.
Cree customers range from innovative lighting fixtures makers to defense-related federal agencies. Cree’s product families include blue and green LED chips, lighting LEDs, LED backlighting solutions, power-switching devices and radio-frequency/wireless devices. For product specifications, please refer to www.cree.com .
