Come See Us at the CAI Spring Showcase & Trade Show

Come see us at the 2011 CAI Spring Showcase & Trade Show – Friday April 29th from 7 am to 4 pm (Booth # 104) at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum – 7711 E. Academy Blvd. in Denver. The theme of this year’s event is Traveling Through Time with Your HOA.

Outdoor Lighting Perspectives (OLP) of Colorado will be exhibiting the latest in ceramic metal halide, LED, and induction fluorescent lamp/fixture technology for a wide range of typical HOA lighting applications including area lighting (street, park, walkway); signage/monument lighting; and stairwell/building lighting.

The new induction fluorescent technology offers increased performance life (up to 100,000 hours) with dramatically lower operational (up to 50-percent energy savings) and maintenance costs. Further, it offers a vast improvement over High-Intensity Discharge (HID) fixtures with respect to nighttime visibility and color rendering.

One of the new programs that OLP of Colorado is offering is a Free Energy Savings Assessment – so that HOA’s and building owners can assess retrofit and replacement payback periods for different lamp technologies. So if you are involved with a community or an HOA, please plan to stop by and see us.

Park Lighting Project Completed for Piney Creek

LC40 Lamp Post at Entrance to Piney Creek Picnic Area

Our company, Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Colorado, just completed its latest lighting project at a community park – the Piney Creek Park near the intersection of East Orchard Road and South Joplin Way in the City of Centennial.

The picnic area next to the beautiful lake and water feature in the Piney Creek Park had been without functioning lighting for several years. The six four-foot tall bollard lighting fixtures  that had been installed there previously were vandalized and damaged beyond repair. The home owners’ association (HOA) realized that they needed a different lighting solution that would not only deter vandalism but also enchance the beauty and usability of the park throughout the year.

What we specified and installed are the 14-foot tall, LC-40 pole lamp posts (150W Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH)) manufactured by our national company in Nashville, Tennessee. The lamp posts are made of cast and extruded aluminum – and for this installation they were powder-coated black for an elegant and traditional look.

What really sets these lamp posts apart from any other installation you’ll see in Colorado today is the use of the Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH) bulb technology. These CMH bulbs with a life of 18,000 hours generate 12,000 lumens while producing a Color Rendering Index (CRI) ABOVE 90! What that means is that the flowers, trees, and rocks, etc. look the same way illuminated at night as they would appear during the daytime. What a concept! And unlike regular metal halide bulbs, CMH bulbs never experience any sort of color shift; i.e., the CMH bulb will always provide a pure white light from the first day it is turned on until the day it burns out.

As a comparison, the current LED technology can generate at best only 50 lumens per watt while the current CMH technology can generate 80 lumens per watt. LED technology is rapidly improving but it still has a way to go to compete with CMH technology where you need to have a lot of light (lumens) at the ground level.

All of the lamp posts were mounted on four-foot deep, two-foot diameter concrete caissons with engineered rebar cages to withstand the higher wind loads that we encounter along the Colorado front range. I’ve attached some additional photos of the construction phase as well as some additional nighttime photos taken after the installation.

LC-40 Lamp Post Closeup at Piney Creek Park

 

Raising the First of Three Lamp Posts in Piney Creek Park

Piney Creek Park Lighting

Outdoor Lighting Perspectives LC40 Lamp Post - Piney Creek Park at Sunset

Veterans Memorial Lighting Project Completed in Time for Memorial Day

Lighting for Veterans Memorial – Piney Creek Park

One of our most rewarding lighting projects was completed this week as we installed a new low voltage lighting system to illuminate a veterans memorial at Piney Creek Park located in Centennial, Colorado. The memorial consists of six flags – the U.S. flag as well as a flag for each of the 5 branches of the military – Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and the Coast Guard. The flush mounted well lights with 35W quartz halogen bulbs were installed with tempered glass lens covers.

Since a grass lawn surrounded all of the flag poles, the lighting fixtures were additionally protected by poured concrete caissons to protect them from lawn mowing damage, etc.

Veterans Memorial Lighting - Flags in Motion

Another photo to the right shows the flags in motion due to a brisk wind last evening. In fact when our crew was on site earlier this week installing the lighting, they experienced wind gusts approaching 70 miles per hour. In fact, the flag contractor was there at the same time to replace two of the flags which required that the flag poles be lowered to a horizontal position. Because of the wind, it took the flag contractor along with some of our crew to help raise the flag/flag pole back to a vertical position.

With Memorial Day a few days away and with the recently completed HBO series The Pacific that was produced by Tom Hanks, the flag raising evoked images of the raising of the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima during World War II. The ultimate sacrifices that our young men and women have made in the service to our country for over the last two centuries cannot be overestimated.
 
As we enjoy time off from work with our friends and family this Memorial Day weekend, please reserve some time to remember the millions of Americans who served our country both in war-time and peace-time, who were severely injured and/or are still suffering debilitating injuries, and those who paid the ultimate price of giving their lives. And if you encounter a vet during your daily activities, please extend the courtesy of thanking them for their service.  Or better yet, attend a Memorial Day Parade where some of the few surviving World War II veterans may be marching. I recently heard that 1,000 WWII vets are dying daily.
 

ProGreen Expo Wrap Up

ProGreen Expo Exhibit

We finished the ProGreen Expo last week and it was a very rewarding show. Not only did we renew friendships with old acquaintances and trade alliances, we also had the pleasure of starting new relationships as well. The major hits of the show were our expanded product offerings of line voltage commercial fixtures (with Ceramic Metal Halide Bulbs) that have applications ranging from commercial buildings, community entrances, and parks.

After completing this 3-day show, we’re off and running to the 9-day marathon also known as the Colorado Garden and Home Show.