Learners Live

Did you Know?
Menu

The Cost of Replacing Purple LED Streetlights by Lori Lovely

William Attardi on February 4, 2026

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

William Attardi on October 3, 2025

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

Interesting: The Three Pillars of Independence of an Organization

The 3 Pillars of Independence most commonly refers to a framework from the UK voluntary sector (specifically promoted by organizations like Bond and the Directory of Social Change). It is a toolkit for assessing and maintaining the independence of charities, NGOs, or civil society organizations.

The Three Pillars are:

  1. Independent of Party Politics – The organization (or regulator) must remain free from bias or influence by any political party or the government of the day. Decisions should be impartial, not favoring one political side.
  2. Independent of Populism – It should not be swayed by popular public opinion, media-driven campaigns, or transient public pressure, especially on controversial or unpopular causes.
  3. Independent of the Press – Freedom from media influence or pressure, ensuring decisions are based on evidence and law rather than headlines or public narratives.

This toolkit was created to monitor potential political encroachment on charitable regulation and to ensure charities can operate without undue external interference.

 

Check out the learning sessions we posted…

August Blog: Learning to Get Better by Bill Attardi

WE ARE NOW LIVE ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@BillAttardi