Only as traffic approaches, Norway’s auto-dimming roads get brighter. New LED lights dim to 20 percent when no cars are in area. When a car drives by, the lights turn to 100 per cent. Thus it reduces the country’s carbon footprint.
This is a result of a cooperation between the Norwegian Public Roads Administration and among others the Scandinavian company ÅF Lighting, which has studied new technologies and approaches to obtain energy savings and increase the efficiency of road lighting in Norway without compromising quality.
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Auto-dimming street lights have been installed along a five-mile long highway near Hole outside Oslo, Norway. The street lights turn from 20 to 100 percent when a car, or a cyclist or pedestrian for that matter, passes a radar sensor attached to the lights.
The project has already gained immense interest and curiosity among municipalities in the Nordic countries as it will give owners of road lighting new insights and ways of handling the challenge of replacing inefficient old lighting technologies.
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Using LED lights helps reduce CO2 emissions compared to other types of lights. The five-mile stretch of energy-saving street lights saves 2,100 kWH per week, which would amount to approximately 21 hours of ironing, or four hours of watching TV on a plasma screen. Even though LED has been a significant technology on the market for several years there are still many unanswered questions, which will now be clarified.
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At a meeting initiated by French President Emmanuel Macron for sovereign wealth funds, Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg said she would support the demand for more rigorous environment-related corporate governance from firm they invest in.
Energy Saving Road Lighting in Norway, written by Tor Kjolberg