Date Announced: 23 Nov 2010 Manchester based Streets Ahead Innovations uk Ltd have developed a unique product range which it claims can reduce electricity consumption on street lighting by up to 80% when used in conjunction with LED street lighting with the consequent significant reduction in carbon footprint.Company founder and product developer, Phil Scott developed the product after realising that a large proportion of the electricity used by street lights was in fact wasted because the roadways were being lit through the night when very limited use was actually being made of the lighting by pedestrians or vehicles.The products are called Spanswitch MK I , MK II and MK III and they work by switching off the streetlights on motorway , dual carriageways , town and village centers and rural roads when there are no vehicles on the highway. When a vehicle is detected on the roadway by a sensor or loop detector, the Spanswitch switches on a series of streetlights to illuminate the road ahead of the vehicle for a time period, which is adjustable from 6 seconds to 10 minutes. This means that the roadway is only illuminated whilst a vehicle is present and not all the time, which is why, the savings are so dramatic.Independent laboratory tests by the Lighting Association in accordance with the Unmetered Supplies Operational Information Document Version 7 shows power consumption in the standby mode of only 1.8 Watts compared to up to 140 Watts for a 100 Watt conventional street light fitting.A further development, which has come about due to requests from local authorities who are looking to make savings in both cash terms and in meeting their commitment to reduce their carbon footprint, is Spanswitch 3 which is designed for Cities, Towns and villages as well as for cycle paths.This unit works in a similar way to Spanswitch 2 except that the street lighting is switched to a low level when no vehicles are present while still providing illumination for pedestrians. This allows people to see where they are going on pavements as well as giving them an effective alarm as to approaching vehicles as the street lights are switched to full power when a vehicle is detected. The units have been designed to be highly robust, waterproof and are simple to install being “plug and play” so that installation costs are kept to a minimum. Additional savings are also made in the reduction in maintenance in the street lighting infrastructure as the light bulbs are long life and the product enhances this with its power saving technology.The company believes that in the current environment where Local Councils are being forced to make savings in all areas, this is a product whose time has come. It will prevent the uproar from local residents in areas where Councils are experimenting with switching off the lights completely and at the same time will provide a system with huge cost savings in electricity and manpower and of course, large reductions in CO2 emissions.If the products were adopted across the UK as a whole, the company have calculated that the reduction in CO2 emissions would be in the order of 1,000,000 tonnes per year with the energy saved being sufficient to power 700,000 homes or the equivalent of two small power stations.About Streetsahead Innovations UK LtdStreets Ahead Innovations Ltd are a small manufacturing company based in Manchester UK who manufacture a range of energy saving products for street lighting and also special purpose lighting and emergency exit signage for Tunnels and arduous areas. The products are all based around long life, low energy consumption to reduce end user energy costs and carbon emissions.
Contact
Phil Scott Managing Director Streetsahead Innovations UK Ltd Unit K Roe Cross Industrial Park Hyde SK14 6NB Tel 01457 763788 Mobile 07532 263520
E-mail:[email protected]
Web Site:www.saiuk.co.uk/index.html
