Aesthetic Street Lights: 19th Century Design, 21st Century Solar Power
You knows those solar garden lights
While the technology has improved, it hasn't taken much for architects to avoid such technology in urban and housing planning. This past Saturday, however, at the Sullivan Renaissance Conference and Expo, companies SolarOne and Hadco unveiled a street lamp that just might have "curb" appeal.
The new light incorporates solar technology and LED lighting in a fixture that is reminiscent of 19th century gas lamps. On either side of the lamp post are solar "flags" that assist in outputting almost 2400 lumens at night. Now that's a light! The 90-watt panels will work anywhere in the continental U.S. and provide power for up to 50,000 hours of lamp life.
The 2400 lumen variety of this light will probably come in at close to $8K, so lamps of this power will be completely out of reach for most of us. Regardless, it would be great to see more solar powered additions popping up in towns, villages, and cities across the U.S. It's only a matter of time before they're in your gardens too. Now about that issue of light pollution….
Hit the jump for more: New Solar Lamp Hits The Streets
Tags: Architecture, led, photovoltaic, renewable energy, Renewable Power, solar
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March 8th, 2007 at 4:27 am
I’m glad to see this sort of thing. But It still looks a bit unsightly with those big wings on it. That’s gonna be a disincentive to cities using them.
Why can’t the PV cells be incorporated into the lamp post itself? There’s a good deal of area there, and on top of the lamp.
Many lamp posts are also used to hold banners that look a bit like those pannels. Maybe one row of PV cells could stick out like that and act as a banner holder with the banner hanging below it.
It seems to me that there is enough surface area there to do it without those big wings, or at least with smaller wings.
March 8th, 2007 at 5:39 am
Your final comment is the one that worries me the most. Cost, emissions and resource depletion have been a few of the biggest weapons in the dark sky warrior’s arsenal. Free, limitless, non-polluting solar energy could lead to an increase in light pollution far in excess of what we’ve already seen. Let’s hope that word continues to filter out that too much light at night can be harmful to wildlife and our own health.
March 8th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
I’m not sure the surface area at the top of the lamp could accommodate enough cells to produce the type of light architects are looking for. I’ll admit the wings aren’t the most beautiful thing in the world, but one wonders if you couldn’t create some type of banner to overlay that would still let in copious amount of light.
In terms of light pollution, dissemination of this technology could lead to more and more areas of light in places once prohibitive. I would hate to see that happen; but would hope that we first come up with ways to redirect light down, consume less by turning off unnecessary lights after, say, midnight, and install motion sensors in parking lots and other wasted areas lit constantly. Light pollution is serious issue and most of us have rarely experienced an absolutely dark night. How sad is that?