The drive towards LED lighting is gaining steady pace. Prominent individual buildings, such as Buckingham Palace, recently switched over to LED, and it seems like whole cities are now following suit.

Seattle in the US is pumping $6 million into replacing all 40,000 of their streetlights with LEDs, while Bangor in the state of Maine is doing their share by installing 319 LEDs. The city is expecting this to lead to savings of an estimated $34,000 a year in electrical expenses.

New York is showing signs of things to come with the George Washington Bridge having recently converted its \"light necklace\" from mercury-vapor lamps that last about a year to LEDs with 15-year life spans. The switch will save New York an average of $5,000 per month in lighting and maintenance costs.

NextGen Research, the emerging technology arm of ABI Research, in its report \"LED Lighting: Solid State Lighting Applications, Technologies, and Market Opportunities,\" forecasts that the illumination segment of the LED market will light the way with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 22% in the 2009-2013 timeframe as cities worldwide shift their streetlights to these more energy-efficient and ecologically friendly solutions.

However, according to research analyst Laura DiDio, the study\'s author, \"The LED industry still faces challenges. Vendors must work with legislators and industry groups to foster a smooth, orderly transition from incandescent bulbs to more efficient LEDs. Vendors also must provide specific product roadmaps to assist users with business continuity planning, and provide excellent after-market technical support and guidance during the transition period.\"

Image courtesy of Joliet.