THE FUTURE AND BEYOND
As we proceed into the 21st century, energy efficiency and public safety along our streets will become more of a dominant issue. Communities and utilities will continue to strive to find ways to conserve electricity. Electric utilities who currently own series streetlighting systems will eventually, replace most existing series operation luminaries, especially their older, commonly very ornate incandescent and mercury fixtures to multiple operation HPS or some similar high efficiency light source. Of interest, the largest concentration of series streetlighting circuits still in use is in the Los Angeles, California vicinity. Utilities there are finding that their series systems are becoming increasingly more costly to maintain, as well as inherently having very high open circuit voltages that are indeed a safety factor for utility personnel and the general public. Therefore those who have not utilized HPS or its equivalent as a streetlighting light source illuminant will do so in coming years. In the meantime, the few remaining communities and regions of the United States which still have their faithful "guardians of the night" are to be well recognized and appreciated for having such sturdy tasteful, attractive luminaries, each possessing their own individual personality, lining their streets. In no instances should these unique roadway profiles be taken for granted! In time most of these representations of vanishing Americana, will fall to their death knell to the monolithic, streamlined, sometimes outright hideous appearing fixtures that all look the same, emitting that citylike, orangy, boring HPS light we see more and more of. This website is dedicated to the wonderful, tasteful streetlighting fixtures of yesteryear that were made to adorn New England's public roadways and those everywhere else in America.
It is hoped by this author and other streetlighters that some of the existing, older luminaries still in service will be saved upon being "upgraded" by individuals and the organizations who own them, possessing the foresight recognizing the fact that future generations will indeed appreciate them. Or, at least, may the utilities and communities who presently own vintage streetlighting find an effective method to retain their older fixtures while retrofitting them to more energy efficient light sources. As an example this was recently successfully done in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Nearly 40,000 1940s incandescent fixtures in that city, originally slated to be replaced by cobra-style HPS, were instead retained and re-engineered to energy efficient lower wattage metal halide lamps and ballasts while providing 3200 Kelvin degree white light, very nearly identical to their previous incandescents. The outside appearance of their vintage fixtures remained the same while the city maintained their original charm along their roadways, significantly reducing their streetlighting energy costs. The city's residents loved what they had for roadway fixtures and simply did not want any of the cobra design, nor any orangeish HPS light. Now, after consultations, with their and manufacturers' lighting engineers several years later, the city enjoys the best of both worlds by retaining their nostalgic street light fixtures and reducing energy consumption while maintaining nearly equivalent roadway illumination levels. May this innovative and wonderfully successfully completed project set an example for other communities!!
CONCLUSION
I would like to express my deep appreciation and gratitude to my good friends and fellow collectors, Marvin Suggs for initially assembling this website, and to David Dahle and Bill Meier for additional support with further updates and enhancements to the site. Without their help and inspiration, this presentation would not be possible!
And... Thanks to all of you for stopping by for a visit! I hope you will soon come again since I've got so much more to share with you!!
Joe Maurath, Jr.