Introduction
Energy is a very important product to sustain the development. The energy sources are therefore explored all around the world in order to meet the energy demands, created by innumerable needs of the mankind. But most of the energy sources which are available today are non-renewable as they get exhausted to never occur again. Coal, petrol and other fossil fuels are some examples. Therefore alternatives are being explored by researchers, engineers and scientists world wide in order to search or create alternatives which can work using non renewable sources of energy or consume less energy. Same is the case for the lighting sources. Lights are essential but their usage causes consumption of energy worldwide. The green trend is also being followed for the development of street lighting sources. These new lighting systems will be enable you to prevent the open manholes without having an adverse impact on the environment.
The KiBiSi street lights
Description
Rapid urbanization has lead to mis-mangement in the cities and you can find unplanned utility poles,mismatched bus benches and dreadful street lamps anywhere. The danish firm KiBiSi has designed a very innovative street furniture for overcoming this problem which is called ‘sTREEt’. It is going to be the main center of attraction at Gwangju design biennale which is an international contemporary art festival that will be held in Korea.
The idea behind the concept is the transformation of Gwangju cityscape into a new organic block. Solar power is used by these street lights and for public utility they have the swings and seating arrangements. They can be easily modified and adjusted as per any city requirements. They are designed and manufactured in various sizes and have the sapling as well the real tree design. The varying sizes are helpful in placing them at suitable location fitting to their respective sizes in parks and at public places. Their utility increases with the solar panels that are incorporated in their design. The solar panels help in charging these sTREETs and creating energy.
These street lights can provide you shelter and shade during daytime, offer you light during the night and are one of the best public utility objects designed. They also bring along with them value and magnificence and have a price which is equal to street lights. Along with these features they can also accommodate power lines, telephone lines, spot lights and street lights. Different neighborhoods can have different ‘sTREETs’ with peculiar color, shape and style. They will beautify the city in a very Eco-friendly way.
Double life concept streetlight
Description
This concept is proposed by industrial designer Woojin Kim. The idea has a sustainable energy source that can also be used as a bench. This streetlight concept is called as double life. The power source of this concept streetlight is a generator condenser unit which is capable of generating and storing energy at the same time. It also has a wind turbine which can be used to utilize the wind energy.
Double Life attains maximum efficiency for generating electricity by using its vertical axis wind turbine which also helps in reducing the visual resistance. Double Life is also equipped with LEDs which help in minimizing the energy consumed. The plate under which it is settled can also be used as a bench. The sunshine is detected by the sensors which are placed on the board of Double Life. Once the sunshine is detected the motors rotate the screw pillars which causes the lowering of the bench plate downwards via the spiral structure. After the sun sets the sensors detect the absence of sunlight and the screw pillars move the plate up towards the light position. The designing is done in such a way that the screw structure moves very slowly over the passage of time. This helps the bench users to prevent accidents.
Embryo street light
Description
Both solar and wind energy are used for powering this concept, which is single structured. it Is given by designer Harsha Vardhan and is named embryo. the design is very practical and at the same time is effective also. The living sprout is the idea behind the concept which generates energy for itself as well as for other needs. Harsha further proposes to paint these trees in rows along the streets in the same way as the existing street light systems. The embryo has a photovoltaic cell which is contained in the top section of the hood-like-roof and also includes a wind turbine which is able to create energy from the renewable source wind. The power created is supplied to the lamp of embryo and the remaining power gets stored in a small battery (contained in embryo) which can be used for any other purpose.
Energy efficient LEDs are used by the lamp and carbon fiber enforced plastic has been used for manufacturing the wind turbine blades.
Night Owl street light
Description
Industrial designer Edan Kurzweil firmly believes in the idea that solar energy must be exploited to its maximum for powering the street lights. Therefore he has designed a solar powered lighting system which is termed as the night owl.
High output LED clusters light up the paths by using batteries which are charged by the large flexible polymer solar films that are contained in the top most section of street owl. By hand wiring these lights into the city’s power grids, it is possible to give the excess of solar power back to the city, get power during winters or the times when the sun rays are absent for a long period of time.
The lights have significantly lower maintenance costs as they are covered in transparent spheres which do not allow the debris to accumulate.
Edan has also gone a bit further by developing a parking meter which works on almost the same technology. The night owl parking meter uses the same solar energy to power itself and is also equipped with a built in lighting system. Therefore the requirement for an additional street light is reduced. The meter is able to gather energy which can be used to swipe a credit card or display time.
Energy Seed street light
Description
Most often the batteries are dumped into the soil with juices still left in them. This causes landfills and also pollutes the soil by seeping toxic waste into it. Beautifully crafted LED’s illuminate the Energy Seed by using these very batteries that are discarded. It helps in conserving energy and also allows the batteries to get recycled once they are completely sucked dry. The design of the energy seed is given by Sungwoo Park and Sunhe Kim and is visually captivating while being ecologically safe. If the lamp would have been provided for domestic use, the idea would have been even better.
Nature power light
Description
There are some drawbacks of the renewable sources of energy. A solar powered light can get dumb during a cloudy day and the wind generators are of no use during clear days when the wind doe not blow. Industrial designers Zhonqian and Tao Ma have tried to overcome these problems by incorporating their street lighting system with system that can produce energy from either of the renewable energy sources. The concept has been named Nature Power Light your road.
The system has a flower shape and the petals of this flower contain a wind turbine and a solar panel. The energy this combination generates gets stored in the batteries which are on-baord. Directional LED lights are provided and therefore the system can be used as a walkway or flood light.
Solar Tree Pulsars
Description
The concept is forwarded by the designers at Vinnacia Integarl Design who have very effectively fused nature and technology and conceptualized the solar tree. It is an innovative system in both its design and working and uses the solar energy as its energy source.
The tree shaped structure has six branches which have panels mounted at different angels. All the branches have the mono-crystalline silicon solar cells which can generate up-to 100 W of electricity by using the sun rays. The panels provide for constant energy generation which can be contributed to their angular placement that enables at least one of them to be in direct sunlight at all times of the day. These street lights store energy in the on-board batteries and can run for 4 to 5 days even in absence of sun rays.
Lightweight aluminum is used for the trunks of these solar tress. The trunks are painted in different colors to make them suit their adjoining environment. The 48 W LED lamp which gets all this energy has the brightness which is equal to a 400 W halogen lamp.
The light tree
Description
The light tree is the name given to a innovative street lamp which has been crafted on the basis of tree shape. It has built in nano tube solar cells which provide great functionality and also gives the light tree a unique aesthetic design. In this concept, the latest solar energy technology has been combined with the hydroponic techniques. The unique thing about the concept is that water features inside the tree which effectively conduces the light that is generated by LED’s present in the base that have a wide range and are ultra bright. The water is also used for feeding the plant seeds which occur on top of the extremities. These seed convert to plant soon and hence the concept gets the complete appearance of the tree. The LED lamps which light up during night time are provided energy created by the solar panels which absorb all sun light that ranges from visible to UV and which is converted to electrical energy later.
Philips light blossom
Description
The concept streetlight which is designed and created by Philips uses both solar and wind energy for getting energy. The petals of the light open up during the day time, track the sun throughout the day and suck up the sun rays for creating energy. On the days when the sun is absent, the same petals turn towards an upward direction and gain the shape of a vertical wind turbine. Energy is generated by rotation of these petals by the wind. The sensors allow the street light to notice people movement around it. When the light senses that there are a lot of people around it, it glows very brightly and dims itself to save energy when there are no people around and things are quite.
Flow bamboo lighting
Description
It is very difficult to transmit the grids to the far flung places and areas, especially the shores of the sea. They can disrupt the beauty of these areas and can also be very difficult to maintain. For such secluded places, IGenDesign has designed the public lighting system called as the Flow . LEDs are mounted on bamboos along with the dynamo and wires. The vertices wind turbine uses the wind which is available for generating electricity and illuminating the lamp.
