Aug 26
Things aren’t always what they seem. But sometimes they are. This Prisma streetlamp not only uses High power
LED lights to shower the streets with it’s luminescence, but it’s interactive and pays for itself to boot. It’s supposed to be able to be controlled by a user, say for street fairs, which is pretty nifty, and even has solar panels(but then again what gadget nowadays DOESN’T have it) to help run the motor that turns the head assembly. Kind of defeats the purpose though if the main power for the light is still coming from the grid. The actual self-sustaining part is the fact that the vertical light can be pointed at various signs, banners, effigies of Jesus, or other advertising detritus to add an additional revenue stream to the mix. Not quite the supergreen product, but more like a light sea foam. Sadly (or perhaps happily), this is only a concept product, so you won’t be hacking a Batman symbol on the top dome any time soon.
[via Prisma Design]
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Feb 21
Back when I was a young’un and lived in the ‘burbs, there were times when I would be walking down the street or riding my bike alone at night. Sometimes as I was passing under one of those yellow-orange sodium streetlamps, they would, without any type of warning, suddenly turn off. Now having a wild imagination, I came up with two possible hypotheses for this occurrence. The first was that I was gifted with some magical power, or subconscious sixth sense, that interacts with the electrical field generated by the light, causing it to turn off. The other explanation was that a ghost or apparition was turning it off, as though sending me a sign that something bad (ala death and/or dismemberment) was going to happen. Generally, the latter idea would take hold and I would sprint the rest of the way back home.
With these new lights, I may not have to worry about that ever again. Not only is it solar powered and using LED lights, it also works on a motion sensor. This makes a lot of sense in theory, since there’s no point in lighting up a path where there is no one walking down. My favorite feature is how it sits at 30% brightness, until something walks by and trips the motion sensor. So if all the technology can converge the right way for this to eventually become a reality, we’re looking at these lights being “off the grid”! Preposterous! Imagine all the strange places you could just put these things. In a dark corner of an empty park. On the top of a cliff. In the middle of the desert. As a prank on top of a dome!
The design is very “trendy” which is always a benefit, but I’m wondering if this is still more of a proof-of-concept, than something that can be usefully implemented. From what I see, the LEDs being used are still the standard sized small LED’s that are used for keychain flashlights. Even used in an array, there isn’t enough power output to make the light as usable as it needs to be. The Eternaleds bulbs use more powerful LED circuits with energy output two orders of magnitude greater than the smaller bulbs. I worry that lights such as these will give LEDs the continuing reputation that they are not bright enough of not ready for consumer use. On the other hand, if the larger power LEDs are being used, then it’s also pulling more wattage, so there needs to be a brightness vs. power balance here.
Still, it’s great to see things like these even publicized (even if it’s very obvious it’s still in concept stage), and I feel like this is the first step towards the golden chalice of usable energy-efficient lighting fixtures. Right now though, more realistic goals need to be made for LED application, or the technology needed to fulfill those promises need to be put in the hands of responsible designers and architects.
Via [Gizmodo]
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