My Idea To Promote Reusable Energy

by Chelsie Kamauoha

The number of street lamps in Hawaii has struck me as a great problem concerning energy. There are numerous street lamps bordering Hawaii’s roads and the cost to provide the electricity for these lights is very expensive. I believe that by replacing the current street lights with solar powered LED lights will benefit Hawaii’s taxpayers and save electricity that is constantly being wasted.

The majority of all street lamps run on high powered light bulbs which are the cause of a huge amount of wasted energy. These light bulbs usually run on about 150 to 250 watts of electricity. Portland, Maine, paying an average of about $1.3 million on electricity needed to sustain street lamps alone, is an example of a city that wastes large amounts of money and electricity. There are huge amounts of money being spent, that is reality do not have to be. The reason why we still have these old fashioned light bulbs in our street lamps is because they are cheep to buy and install, however I have come to find that these light bulbs have turned out to be expensive to light and maintain.

My solution is to replace these expensive old fashioned lights with the combination of both solar panels and LED lights. The cost to maintain these lights and to actually light them will be a strikingly lesser cost then the traditional lights we use today. The positive aspect about his solutions in that the current light poles do not need to be removed; the LED lights and the solar panels can be mounted on. However, the street lamps will remain connected to an outside power supply incase enough solar energy is not given. The taxpayer’s money that is normally used to pay for electricity can be used for more important and necessary things. The money can be used for things such as paving roads, cleaning towns, or possibly reducing or ending furloughs.