Switching Over While Getting Equipped For The Future.

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19 Apr 2011

Starting recently, the new-build Rohrdorf area of the Pielenhofen community near Regensburg is shining in a modern light: the plan is for nine street lights with LED technology from OSRAM Opto Semiconductors to shed their light on the future development. And that’s only the beginning – in stages, Pielenhofen will switch over its street lighting to LED across the community’s whole area. It is a measure that not only pays off for large cities: small communities can also achieve huge savings as a result, also making a contribution to sustainability.

Whether it is a small community or a large city: the switchover to modern light solutions, such as LED technology, is a purposeful measure for reducing energy costs long-term and for equipping a community to meet the future – it is also a step which cities, towns and municipalities must make over the next few years. This is because, since the end of 2009, the EU regulations requiring the reduction of CO2 emissions and of energy consumption also relate to products which do not themselves consume any energy, but do have major implications for energy consumption – as is the case for street lighting. Thus, starting in April 2012, certain luminaires for street lighting, such as the sodium vapour lamps used in Pielenhofen, will be withdrawn from the market; from 2015, the mercury vapour lamps used by many municipalities will no longer be sold within the EU. From then on, it will only be efficient high-pressure discharge lamps or LEDs which will be permitted.

On course for savings with LED
The Pielenhofen community in the Regensburg administrative district is thus taking on a front-runner role with its plans to re-equip its lighting resources. LED-based street lights are an optimally suited alternative for making the forthcoming change: the high yield, in terms of light, makes LED-based luminaires significantly more efficient; in less frequented streets, the lighting can be dimmed at nights – as is the case for Pielenhofen – by means of the flexible light control used for LED systems. Added to this is the good color rendering index of LED light sources – also at night-time, this provides a natural optical impression in terms of the colors, and thus a higher degree of safety, due to a more clearly contoured environment. In addition, LEDs offer greater product longevity – they require maintenance work significantly less frequently than conventional lighting does and thus also save costs.

Successful pilot project
The street lights to be deployed in Pielenhofen community are of the "Kassel" type, from the manufacturer Herkules: these are equipped with a kit for retrofit purposes and with Golden Dragon Plus LEDs from OSRAM; in stages, they will also replace the sodium vapour lamps in the community area. As a pilot project, the mayor, Reinhold Ferstl, had two LED luminaires installed in the heart of the locality back in February 2010 – with positive feedback from the local residents. "What convinced us was the modern technology, as it not only produces more pleasant, warm light: the light diodes only project their light into the desired direction", Ferstl observes. This effect is reinforced by the integrated lense of the Golden Dragon Plus: this makes it possible to generate a brighter and more even illumination of a defined area, despite low intake of power – it also achieves an optimum illumination of the street, conforming with the relevant norms, avoiding scattered light and staying below the limit regarding dazzle. The dimmer function is also brought into effect in Pielenhofen: in the evening, the lighting is reduced by 50 per cent, making an additional saving of energy.

Sustainability in focus
The successive process of switchover to street lights based on LED technology is not, however, a matter of pure necessity for the parish of 1,500 residents; in fact it is a part of a sustainable overall concept. "For a long time now, we have been consistently maintaining our course with regard to sustainability", Mayor Ferstl explains. "In modernising our street lighting, we made a conscious decision in favour of quality "Made In Germany" and a producer of lighting products from the region", Reinhold Ferstl points out. "Sustainability is not a matter of fashion for us. We want to live up to it in all its facets".