Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc. (Sunovia Energy), a wholly owned subsidiary of Sunovia Solar, Inc., has won the bid to provide LED street lighting for Sarasota county’s highly visible main thoroughfare, Fruitville Road. The project calls for Sunovia Energy to provide 148 EvoLucia-brand 120W LED cobra head-style street lights.

As the LED lights are energy-efficient and require no maintenance for 12 years, the lights will save the county about $14,000 per year in energy and maintenance costs.

On November 13, 2009, the county provided a bid award notice letter to all bid participants stating that Sunovia Energy provided the lowest price responsive bid, meaning Sunovia bid the lowest price while meeting or exceeding all requirements of the proposal. Seven other companies, three of them with ties to Sarasota, participated in the bidding process.

Further, the LED lights will reduce carbon emissions by about 710,730 pounds over 10 years. The EvoLucia lights project more than 50 lumens per watt consumed, a relatively high light output considering the low amount of input energy. They contain the newest high-brightness Cree, Inc.’s LEDs and employ patent-pending Aimed Optics technology to focus maximum light on the ground, virtually eliminating glare, wasted light and light pollution.

“Because the LEDs within our EvoLucia lights are strategically aimed to focus light on specified locations, they achieve higher light utilization and provide higher ‘target efficiencies’ than even other types of LED fixtures,” Sunovia Energy said. “This is particularly important in street and roadway applications, where increased road safety comes directly from the heightened visibility of more light reaching roadways at ground level. Our ‘Aimed Optics’ technology is the only technology suited for direct, one-for-one replacement of HPS cobra head street lights with LEDs–meaning Sarasota can install the LED lights on existing poles with no needed adjustments in pole spacing.”

The new cobra heads also exceed the Fitted Target Efficiency criteria established by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE.) for Energy Star certification. The Aimed Optics direct illumination method also allows fixtures to meet Dark Sky guidelines and LEED certification requirements by minimizing light trespass, reducing sky-glow, and reducing impact on nocturnal environments.

If Sarasota were to proceed to a city-wide LED street light retrofit of 62,000 fixtures, the county would save more than $5.28 million annually in energy and maintenance costs and reduce carbon emissions by 223 million pounds over 10 years.

Ed Kramer, Sunovia’s director of LED sales and marketing, said, “We are grateful for Sarasota County’s commitment to energy conservation. While our technology saves a tremendous amount of energy and money, it also has the potential to rebuild Sarasota’s economy around ‘green’ jobs. By choosing environmentally friendly, energy-efficient and Sarasota-made EvoLucia LED lighting, the county has done what is best for the environment, the local economy and Sarasota taxpayers.”

Sunovia Energy is a US-based developer, marketer and distributor of solar powered substrate and LED lighting technologies.