Learners Live

The Cost of Replacing Purple LED Streetlights by Lori Lovely

Since many cities and towns began switching to LED streetlights about 15 years ago, a peculiar phenomenon has begun to occur. As specific batches of LED streetlights age, their cool white light fades to blue and then eventually emits a purple wash, due to delamination of the phosphor-silicon layer in some LED chips. This has been linked to a manufacturing defect that eluded quality inspections. Now that the defect has been identified, many municipalities are including performance guarantees and warranties in their street lighting contracts, allowing them to get lamps replaced for free or decreased cost. The average cost of replacing an LED street light fixtures runs from $100 to $500. If only the lamp needs replacing, the cost is around $50 to $200. The cost of replacing the entire fixture can be as much as $400 to $1,200.  The Cost of Replacing Purple LED Streetlights – Electrical Contractor Magazine

Lighting the Way for Electric Vehicles by Using Streetlamps as Chargers by Sarah Small

A team of researchers at Penn State created a scalable framework to develop, analyze and evaluate using streetlights as a low-cost, equitable EV charging option. They then installed 23 streetlight charging units in Kansas City, Missouri, and tested their framework. The researchers found that streetlight charging stations, compared to traditional EV charging stations, were more cost- and time-effective, had fewer negative environmental impacts, and were more convenient and accessible. Their results were published in the Journal of Urban Planning and Development, which is overseen by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Lighting the way for electric vehicles by using streetlamps as chargers

 

What Are Stablecoins and How Do They Work?

Stablecoins are less volatile than other cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin) and due to crypto assets’ inherent instability, stablecoins are growing in popularity with both crypto and traditional markets. Stablecoins are a type of crypto asset, but one that offers a way to bridge the gap between fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar and cryptocurrencies. Because they are price-stable digital assets that behave like fiat but maintain the mobility and utility of cryptocurrency, stablecoins are a novel solution to crypto volatility: price stability is built directly into the assets themselves.  There are four primary stablecoin types, identifiable by their underlying collateral structure: fiat-backed, crypto-backed, commodity-backed, and algorithmic stablecoins.  What Are Stablecoins and How Do They Work? | Gemini