RTR Supporter To Put LEDs Over Hudson

James Johannemann, left, president of All Bright Electric, looks over LED lighting tube units developed by Andrew Neal, right, of ANL Ltd., a Salt Point-based company that is partnering with Mid-Hudson Workshop for the Disabled in Poughkeepsie to supply the units to light the Walkway over the Hudson pedestrian bridge. All Bright is a contractor from West Nyack who has been chosen to do the installation. (Craig Wolf/Poughkeepsie Journal)

LEDs will shine a low-cost light
Dutchess firm's system to save power, money
By Craig Wolf • Poughkeepsie Journal • August 27, 2009

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200908270600/BUSINESS/908270326

Lighting on the Walkway Over the Hudson will make use of a new system developed by a Dutchess County company.

The project leaders say it will use much less power and save the taxpayer lots of money compared with other lighting solutions once the state of New York takes over and runs the Walkway, due to open in October.

Tiny light-emitting diodes, semiconductors better known by their initials, LEDs, are the source of light.

They are strung together and contained in a tubular one-inch diameter shell that is both the lighting instrument and its conduit, said Andy Neal, president of ANL Ltd., a Salt Point-based developer of Illuma lighting systems.

"The conduit becomes the light," he said.

Meeting held Neal and others working on the project met Wednesday at the Mid-Hudson Workshop for the Disabled, City of Poughkeepsie, which will assemble the lighting system components.

The components will then be installed by All Bright Electric, a West Nyack, Rockland County, contractor that made the winning bid for electrical and security work on the walkway.

Federal transportation money, obtained by U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley, channeled through the city and then to the Walkway, is paying the bill, said Fred Schaeffer, president of the nonprofit Walkway group.

The contract is for about $670,000 and includes electrical work beyond the lighting, Walkway spokesman Steve Densmore said. That covers power outlets, security camera systems and emergency telephones.

Schaeffer said Walkway's team was very satisfied with the lighting solution.

"It provides relatively low- cost lighting," he said. "It's very efficient and you can also direct it down on the deck so it will be lit for safety purposes, but you'll still be able to see the stars and the moon and enjoy the natural atmosphere of the night.

"People are going to be surprised at how beautiful it is," he said.

Neal said, "Because you're using lots and lots of very small sources, it resolves into just a very flat, even illumination."

About 81,200 LEDs will be incorporated into the system that lights the walkway deck.

Bill DelTosta, sales and marketing director for the Mid-Hudson Workshop, said the challenge was that a strip of lights installed on one rail of the walkway needed to throw enough light to reach 20 feet across the deck without creating too much spill upward that would interfere with night vision.

"It's a very tough proposition," he said. "This is the only way it's going to work."

It also cuts the cost of operation by about 80 percent versus the more standard incandescent lights, he said.

James Johannemann, president of All Bright, said, "It's a tough job to be competitive with. It's such a high-profile job for us."

Reach Craig Wolf at cwolf@poughkeepsiejournal.com
or 845-437-4815