Why Is This So Rare?

$1000 seems like a ballpark price for a regular street light & post. I don't know for sure, but I would guess that these special street lights would be on the order of $3000-$5000 each.

Sure, the size of the wind and solar components seem too small to power a standard 400-1000 watt high-intensity street light bulb. But with 1/4 or 1/3 the power, you can substitute an equally-bright LED lamp. They're starting to make them now for street lighting. I'll bet the one shown in the OP picture uses LEDs.

Cost savings: no trench to dig for electrical power supply; no electric bill. If LED lamp used, significantly longer lifetime (less maintenance)

 

Couldn't tell from the pics, but is there any sign of an antenna? Around here there are remote weather stations that are solar powered that report to a central location periodically. What looks like a wind generator is a wind speed and direction indicator. Not to say that is what this is, but just a thought.

 

i see this more and more

also used for road sign's( with LED signs in it ) now. the temp. one's

just place it anywhere and it will work.

 

That looks like a LED street light. No way that setup could power a HPS or HID slipfitter for very long. I did come across this, looks very similar

Municipal Solar Lighting

Which is about twice what a conventional slipfitter streetlight costs. However, by the time you factor in underground wiring and install, the costs close in.

 

The light kits in your link say "pole sold separately". The pole is $1500. That makes it $4500 for a street light.

This document (page 18) puts a standard light at $405 for the light, $798 for installation, and about $17 per month for electricity.
https://www.firstenergycorp.com/files/JCPL_Municipal_Lighting_Handbook_Final.pdf

I would say that explains why we don't see more solar powered LED street light. Very few places are far enough from power to justify the additional cost.

 

Municipalities assign cost as the amount of money they pay for financing, installation, maintenance, and electricity. Right or wrong that is how they calculate costs.

If a municipality wanted to reduce electricity use and pollution they would also need to look at the alternative uses for the money they have available. How many power hungry sodium-vapor lights could be replaced with energy efficient LED lights for the cost of a single solar light module? I suspect that for most urban and suburban locations LED lights hooked up to conventional municipal power would save more energy per $.

 

agreed. In more remote areas the solar/wind combo is the only practical solution, but as JSH points out, municipalities will gain a lot more by simply using far more efficient bulbs.

 

It is a local issue because it is local municipalities that control street lights. I don't see the federal government getting much support if they roll out a plan to replace all street lights with LEDs.

I think you are confusing our dependency of foreign oil with electricity use. The majority of oil used to power our cars comes from foreign sources while the VAST majority of our power is generated from domestic fuels.

I see oil dependency as a huge national security risk. However, the majority of the public does not. The last administration thought the solution of oil dependency was to invade an oil producing country. We haven't yet seen what if anything the current administration will do about it.

 

Here is a study being performed by the City of Oakland using LEDs as replacements for HPS (High Pressure Sodium) street lights.I was particularly amazed at the overall difference in color and illumination between the usual HPS bulbs and the LEDs!

http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/portland2008_day2_cook.pdf

 

They are everywhere here.
I have a park and ride a few km away and there are several across Adelaide. A lot of bigger train stations have lots of parking spaces.
I'd use the Park and Ride but my shifts and the distance I need to travel would mean the minimum travel time on the bus would be 2 hours instead of the 1 I allow now. It can be as high as 3 hours each way depending on shift timing.

 

In this area, many of the pit toilets in the parks are solar powered. They use a small fan to circulate air, which really cuts down on the stink, especially on a warm, calm day. I also see many solar powered traffic signals.

Tom