New Zealand first with new LEDs on Southern Hemisphere
In a press release from Philips, their new energy-efficient LEDs, CosmoPolis, are praised as a breakthrough in reducing the environmental impact of street lights. The LEDs emit white light and are said to provide greater safety through increased visibility. They have been installed in a residential area and are expected to decrease power consumption by 10% compared to high-pressure sodium lamps, without compromising the lighting performance.
Compared to conventional street lights, the new installation provides a better, whiter light which can be pointed more directly to the streets, avoiding pollution of night skies. So far, CosmoPolis has been adapted by 50 European cities.
While Philips boasts about the fast payback of the LEDs, there is no information about the control of the street lights. At one time, Philips put a lot of time and effort into a centralized control system for street lights, however, such a system is not mentioned in the press release.A centralized solution makes even more sense to install after LEDs have become prevalent. LEDs typically last for 12 years when being lit for 11-12 hours per day. With high reliability, bulb changes can be based on the number of burn hours. A centralized system can easily keep track of the amount of hours the street lights have been turned on. Read more here…