New Concept for Streetlight-Greentechnology

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Concept # 6
http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009/04/28/the-future-of-streetlights-6-brilliant-new-concepts/
The Future of Streetlight; 6 New Concept

As objects, streetlights tend to recede into that dull tangle of structures that keep our towns and cities running smoothly. They generally aren’t intended to draw any notice. But maybe its time to start appreciating the possibilities. When well designed–which the typical American streetlight is emphatically not–they can make our urban environments more appealing and livable. Part of that challenge includes making them more sustainable: At present, street and highway lighting in the U.S. accounts for 2 percent of overall electrical demand. Simply using energy-saving LED light bulbs would eliminate 9 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, according to one estimate.

But swapping in new bulbs is just a start. A few visionaries are already re-imagining the streetlight in bold ways, designing devices that use less energy and improve our urban landscapes. Here are some of their brightest ideas:

1. “The Seagull” Streetlamp - Like the Light Blossom, the Seagull is designed to be the self-powering device. The main difference is that this one already exists. Installed in Tokyo near the Panasonic Center, this device is entirely off the grid. It has a solar panel and a rotating, vertical-axis wind turbine. Energy gathered from the these renewable sources is stored in batteries that power the lamp at night

2. The NYC LED Lamp - Last year, New York City’s Department of Transportation contracted with a company called Office of Visual Interaction to produce new LED-based street lighting radically different in form and function from existing lamps. The new light poles are sleeker and allow beams of light to be directed in different directions — meaning one lamp can illuminate both the sidewalk and the roadway. Though still currently under review, the program could eventually result in the replacement of the city’s entire stock of 300,000 lamps and reduce their overall power usage by 25-30 percent. (Image at top: OVI)

3.The River-Powered Streetlight - In a city called Ballybofey in northwestern Ireland, city engineers have installed a water-powered light system. Small turbines built by local company L&H Ecotech have been placed under a bridge that runs over the local river; as water moves through the system’s propellers, the electricity created is transferred to batteries which then power 30W LED lamps mounted above the bridge. The power is produced at all times by the rapidly moving river, so the lights are not likely to go out any time soon. (Photo: L&H Ecotech)

4. Dimming Streetlights - It’s not sexy-looking, but in San Jose, a municipal demonstration program is outfitting 125 street lamps with LED bulbs that can be dimmed based on established need. The idea challenges one of the basic tenets of how street lighting: that lamps should burn at the same brightness all night long. For instance, if properly programmed, lights could be increased in luminosity in areas with known high pedestrian use but decreased in places that see little pedestrian activity; some lights will even include sensors to detect activity and activate only when needed. These improvements are likely to allow the city to save 10 to 60% on street light energy use, so even though the bulbs, at $600 apiece, are more expensive than those they replace, at $200 each, the city will eventually save money on the program as LEDs have much longer life spans

5.The “Lunar Resonant” Streetlamp - A design firm called Civil Twilight has developed a concept called the “lunar resonant street light,” which is designed to measure the strength of the moonlight and adjust its brightness correspondingly. The concept would “fill in” only the light necessary, since on some nights the moon is so bright that literally no street lights are necessary to navigate sidewalks and roadways. On cloudy or stormy nights, the lights would burn at full capacity. Overall, the program could vastly reduce the amount of “on” time for street lights, and therefore reduce a city’s electricity bill.

6. The Light Blossom: Dutch electronics giant Philips may have the most ambitious scheme when it comes to street lighting. Its “Light Blossom” is designed to harness the sun and wind with a moving lamp post that, like a flower, adapts to changing environmental conditions. During the day, the concept lamp’s petals “open” to reveal solar panels, while the head can rotate to follow the sun. During gusty conditions, the petals contract to a half-open position and turn into a rotating wind turbine. Then, at night, the “flower” evolves into a bud ready to light the surrounding streets. (Video here.) Unfortunately, a Philips spokesman told me that ideas from the concept won’t be put into production for another 3 to 5 years - at the minimum. (Image: Philips)