Good News Monday – LED Streetlights for NYC

Welcome to another episode of Twilight Earths “Good News Monday”, a weekly Green News update about people or companies that are trying to protect our environment. After all, who couldn’t use a little good news on a Monday?

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “All good things come to those who wait.” Well, about four years ago, the City of New York held an international competition to design the next generation of streetlights for the city. The winner? A company called the Office for Visual Interaction. If the prototype makes it through the testing stage, it will become the standard streetlight across the whole city.

It’s got a very space-age look to it, as its head contains 100 LED bulbs, rather than one big one. The designers settled on something long and thin, which makes the streetlight look graceful and light, rather than bulky and 20th century.

So how is this going to “Green Up” NYC? Well, the new lights will will use about 30% less electricity than the old sodium bulbs. An added advantage is that the LED’s can be arranged into customized configurations to deliver different “footprints” of light. So instead of wasting half the light on the side of a building (as an example), the light can be directed toward a specific spot.

Source: EcoGeek

Related posts:

1. Good News Monday – Good Green News for Dec. 1st, 2008
2. Good News Monday-Canadians Build the First Solar Community in North America!
3. Good News Monday – Bloggers Donate 720 Cans of Food to Food Bank