Philips LED street lighting
New street lighting in Durban represents good luminance and uniformity in LED lighting; will create a more livable city with safer roads, increased security and a comfortable outdoor environment.

Yesterday Philips unveiled a new state of the art LED street lighting installation that offers a sustainable lighting solution for the citizens of Durban. The new lighting consists of 149 LED street lights installed in 6 streets around the Durban International Conference Center (ICC). These offer energy savings of 47,4 MWh per year or 26% compared with the older 250W metal halide street lights they replace and at the same time provide superb light quality. In the future the street lights can be controlled externally raising the prospect of even more energy savings by dimming the lights outside peak times.

By installing more efficient, low maintenance, brighter street lighting on these roads, local authorities expect to improve road safety for drivers and pedestrians alike, create more attractive conditions for business and commercial life, as well as generate a more secure and comfortable outdoor environment for residents.

Joint initiative
The new street lighting is part of a joint initiative by Philips, Eskom (the South African Energy supplier), the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and the eThekwini Municipality, to demonstrate the major advances being made in energy efficient LED lighting. Research has shown that new LED lighting in general can reduce energy consumption for street lighting in cities by as much as 30%.

Andrew Etzinger, Senior General Manager for Integrated Demand Management at Eskom, says: “Like most other countries, both developed and developing, South Africa is facing an energy-constrained future and it is in Eskom’s interest to partner with local authorities to reduce consumption where possible. Although we are investing in new power stations to generate enough electricity to meet medium-to long-term demand, improved efficiency is really the only practical solution to ensuring our electricity supply will be secure in the short-term”.

“To this end, we are committed to using tried-and-tested technology in our energy efficiency drive and investment in a low carbon future. Local authorities which consume less energy can also limit their carbon footprint and control their operating costs. These are important motivating factors which will encourage municipalities to limit their demand on electricity supply.”

Lower public costs
“South Africa has been very proactive in recognizing that investing in energy-efficient and sustainable lighting solutions will reduce consumption and lower public and private electricity costs,” says Juan van Dongen, Vice President and CEO – Philips Africa. “Philips is also committed to investing in a sustainable future by delivering the most innovative and energy-efficient lighting technology. This partnership of encouraging a shift to LED lighting solutions underscores our commitment to sustainability and corporate responsibility in growth markets like South Africa”.

The Philips Iridium2 street lighting solution was used for the project. This allows the local authorities to simply replace the LED light module in future when an upgrade is required without having to change the light fitting or the pole itself. Technical specs include 112 LEDs providing 21,126 lumens, a colour temperature of 5700k, 95lm/w system efficacy, 60000 hours life and a colour rendering of 68.