LEDs Go Pro!

Let’s deflate the Super Bowl XLIX controversy story and move onto the story of Super Bowl XLIX making history. This year’s Super Bowl, being held at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona, will be the first in NFL history to be played under 100% LED lighting. Upgrading from 780 metal-halide fixtures to 312 20-inch-wide LED fixtures by New York-based Ephesus Lighting, the stadium went from using 1.2 million watts to just 310,000 watts to light the enclosed building. 

Not only is there about a 75% energy saving, but the new LED fixtures also produce about 200% more light. Although the capital for the retrofit cost approximately $18 million, the stadium will only take about 2 years to break even due to the high energy savings, according to Ephesus Lighting,

In addition to the incredible green impact of the upgrade, the LEDs will also help prevent game-delay debacles like the partial power-outage at the Super Dome in Louisiana during Super Bowl XLVII. In that scenario, the power was restored in a matter of moments. However, there was still a “blackout” delay of about 34 minutes. The reason? The metal-halide lights in the Super Dome required a warm-up period of 28 minutes to come to full brightness. What’s the warm-up period for LED lights, you ask? There is none!

Way to go LEDs – for taking a broken play and gaining forward progress!