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In the modern world there is hardly a house, a street, a
business or a transport facility that does not make use of electric lighting. Although electricity is often seen as a
panacea for all environmental ills, a lot depends on how the electricity is
generated. Electricity generated by
fossil fuels will still create carbon dioxide pollution. This is still a big advantage over petrol
and diesel powered vehicles created noxious fumes in town and city centres, but
the human race still needs to work towards generating electricity from
renewable sources.
Lighting is by no means the heaviest user of electricity on an individual basis. But when you consider the sheer number of
street lamps in a heavily populated city, it all adds up. If the power consumed by electric lighting
could somehow be generated by a renewable source, the savings in polluting
emissions would be considerable. As of
now, the technology for street lighting powered by renewable sources is not yet
commercially viable. But we are getting
there. Already, there are many
different types of solar powered light available for domestic gardens.
It has even been rumoured that the British Government had been considering
dimming lights on British roads, even on motorways, in an attempt to save on
electricity. This has not been
implemented due to the reduced vision for drivers and the increased risk of
accidents. It will be far better to
create a lighting system, which will create the same amount of light, from a
renewable source. Wind power would be a
possibility on exposed motorways, as the noise factor will be of less
importance on roads that are largely a long way from homes or workplaces. Solar energy however, is noise free. So it could be implemented on any roads, if
the technology can be developed to produce the panels at a cost effective price.
An interesting example of solar powered lighting on a transport facility can be
found on the railway stations of North Wales.
The railway line that snakes around the Welsh coast comes out of
Shrewsbury and many of the stations are only small village halts serving a very
small number of people. These stations
are largely unmanned and a source of lighting was needed that would require
little maintenance. These stations in
North Wales now have lamps that are attached to solar panels. The solar panels generate electricity - even
in the cold, dull, cloudy climate of North Wales - and that electricity is then
stored in a battery similar to a vehicle battery.
This Welsh experiment hopefully shows the way forward for solar powered
lighting to become an ever more important part of the provision of public
lighting. Of course, solar panels are
used on the roofs of many homes, especially in climates such as California
where there is an abundance of sunshine.
The one problem with solar energy for lighting is that the power is
generated at the time of day the light is not needed. This means that batteries are required to store the power until
the nighttime when it is needed. With
the advances in fuel cell technology we are seeing emerge in this decade, this
should not be a problem. The future
looks bright for solar powered lighting.
Michael Russell
Your
Independent guide to Lighting
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