Wastage of energy due to street lights on in daylightby | 03-01-2013 17:37 |
|---|
|
Street lights are an indispensable part of our life and streets. It is something that helps us to see the road to our destination in the dark. So therefore, we can consider it to be very useful in our lives. But when we see these street lights are on even during natural day lights are available, it is a wastage and ultimately affects our environment. To calculate how much wastage it is, let's do some simple maths. If a street light consumes 1000 W (approximately) of electricity in an hour and it runs for 2 hours extra everyday, then, 1000 X 2 = 2000 Wh = 2 KWh For a road of 2 km length (@ 2 lights fixed with a single post @ 10m centre to centre distance), 400 lights are in place. 2 KWh X 400 = 800 KWh is wasted in area every day which is totally unnecessary. So, we can imagine the wastage of fossil fuel, water, manhrs etc to produce the electricity which is not benefiting anybody!!! I had noticed this wastage in Sharjah area and as a responsible citizen tried to bring the attention of authorities on this subject. My report has been published in UAE's leading daily ?Gulf News? under their ?Community Report? section. The newspaper report is give below:
On further exploring into the subject matter, I found out (http://www.gizmag.com/motion-sensing-streetlight-system/19199/) that The Netherlands' Delft University of Technology is experimenting with a new streetlight system on its campus, where the streetlights equipped with motion sensors-dim to 20% power when there is no people around or when there is no moving vehicles near them. This system will reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 80%, in addition to this, it lowers maintenance costs and reduces light pollution. The illumination comes from LED bulbs, which are triggered by motion sensors. Their movement is detected by the closest streetlight as a person or car approaches, and its output goes up to 100%. Because the lights are all wirelessly linked to one another, the surrounding lights also come on, and only go back down to 20 percent once the commuter has passed through. This essentially creates a "pool of light" that precedes and follows people wherever they go, so any thugs lurking in the area should be clearly visible well in advance.
An experimental energy-saving streetlight system automatically dims the lights when no people or moving vehicles are in the area (Image: TU Delft)
|
