Netherlands’ Street-Lighting System May Cut Electricity Bill By 80%
Chintan Shah of the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) has developed a new street-lighting system that can cut the electricity usage and bill by around 80%. Chintan’s research won an award in 2010 for his innovative system. The system deploys motion sensors, LEDs, and wireless communication to make the street-lights smarter. The street-lighting systems dims the light when there are no cars passing by or no passengers in near vicinity. TU Delft is using the system in its campus.
The new technology can be used in any street lighting system with lights which can be dimmed. The motion sensors detect motion in its coverage area and if it detects motion – it makes the corresponding street light brighter. When there’s no motion, the system dims the light thereby reducing the power consumption down to 20%. The failure of operation is automatically communicated to the central control room which makes the maintenance easier and economical. Chintan Shah has formed a company “Tvilight” to commercialize the system he developed. He expect the company to be profitable in a time-span of 3-5 years