Wooden covered bridges are relics of the past for most of the United States. However, in some areas of the country, they are still around. One such bridge, constructed in 1872 in Dummerston has gotten a lighting upgrade, according to an article in the BuildingGreen.com blog.
The 267-foot historic bridge, known as the West Dummerston Covered Bridge, was retrofitted over the weekend with 121 Line Sconce LED fixtures from Philips Gardco. The LED lights replaced the old, but still working, high pressure sodium lights. HPS lights stayed on as much as 17 hours a day, and were extremely inefficient, using 100 W. each.
The new lights use a mere 50 watts of electricity. Additionally, motion sensors were installed to ensure that the lights are dimmed during low traffic times. So after 5 minutes of inactivity, the lights dim to a mere 10W of power consumption. The LED lights are expected to maintain 70 percent of its light output for 50,000 to 75,000 hours.
Alex Wilson reported in the blog, The light quality shows off the beautiful bridge interior much better. He added, Historic structures are very important to me. But I also appreciate state-of-the-art, energy-saving technologies. It is exciting to see these two interests intersect in such an elegant way with the new lighting for Dummerston's much-celebrated covered bridge.
