"This order also continues our prosperous relationship with one of the world's largest outdoor advertising companies, who has tested our i-SHELTER lighting systems and found our products provide reliable, cost-effective transit lighting that can be installed quickly with no disruption to traffic," said the company's CEO, Art Aylesworth.
Carmanah's i-SHELTER is a completely self-contained shelter lighting system that harnesses the sun's energy to power high-intensity LEDs. The technology makes passengers more visible to bus drivers and allows passengers to read timetable information easily at any hour. Costs are kept significantly lower than conventional grid-connected lighting as roads and pavement are untouched during installation, and there are no power permits required or ongoing electrical costs.
The second order in the amount of CDN $200,597 comes from the City of Edinburgh Council. Carmanah's i-SHELTER systems will be introduced across the Edinburgh public transport network by Commutaports Ltd, one of the UK's largest suppliers of passenger shelters and modular covered walkways.
Aylesworth said "Scotland is an extremely challenging solar power environment, but the performance and reliability of our technology resulted in our selection as the supplier of solar shelter lighting for the country's capital city."
Increasing public transport use will help achieve goals of reduced traffic congestion and improved air quality set out in the National Air Quality Strategy. Illuminated bus shelters are one way to make public transit a more efficient and attractive alternative to automobile use.
The City of Edinburgh's transport leader, Andrew Burns, states "if more people are to use bus services after dark it is essential that we increase the sense of security at bus shelters by making sure that as many bus shelters as possible have lighting. Unfortunately, the cost of providing lighting at all shelters has been extremely expensive due to the costs associated with establishing a power connection. A cost-effective alternative is the use of solar-powered lighting at a limited number of bus shelters."
