The City of Raleigh has undertaken a number of areas related to lighting. Our Facilities Maintenance operation has undertaken an inventory of our lighting fixtures throughout our municipal buildings and facilities and has systematically been replacing aging light fixtures with more energy efficient ones. The City also has the good fortune of having the Cree as a business partner. Headquarters in the Reasearch Triangle Park, the City has partnered with Cree to install LED lighting in its parking decks and parking lots. Cree also sponsored the primary lighting feature at the City's new LEED-certified convention center. Called the "Shimmer Wall" it runs the entire length of the face of the facility and shines differing shades of colors through a wall of pixels that blow in the wind but which also have the design of a large oak tree (one of Raleigh's icons). It stands as a symbol of Raleigh being and LED city. The City is also working with the Clinton Climate Initiative and Progress Energy to assess the feasibility and practicality of partnering with a third party investor to replace the City's streetlighting with LED streetlights. Because the city does not have it's own municipal light enterprise a transition to this type of lighting is necessarily more complex.

Cree is a good one---but Induction lighting will do everything an LED fixture does, but at about 1/3rd the cost. Induction is a workhorse. We explored LED and found the cost and complexity troubling. Get to know Magnetic Induction lighting before you spend big bucks on a problematic technology like LED.