Behold the power of the humble LED

27 May 2017

Behold the power of the humble LED

Innovation Vector Lights

Intensification & building near powerlines

Vector Lights for New Year’s Eve 2023

Vector Lights for Auckland Anniversary Day 2024 – Expressions of Interest (EOI)

Technology that was recently the stuff of science fiction is increasingly available to the mass market. Consider synthetic meat, with a starting price of USD $325,000 for a hamburger patty in 2013, it’s now down to just $11¹ – soon it’ll be in a store near you! Similarly, LCD TVs cost an average of $3,500 in 2004 and were $1,400 just five years later². Never has this pattern been more apparent than in the progress of the humble LED.

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) use a fraction of the energy of traditional lightbulbs. By 2014 LED efficiency had jumped to nearly 100 lumens per watt. Traditional incandescent bulbs give only 8-12 lumens per watt³. As the technology was improving the price was dropping; in 2013⁴ the price confined household LEDs to a niche product, now you can pick up a bulb at the supermarket from just $8⁵.

What’s a lumen?

It’s a measure of brightness. LEDs use at least 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs⁶ meaning they create the same level of light from much less energy. LEDs can give the same brightness as an old 60watt bulb for just 9 watt⁷, and they last 25 times longer⁸.

Powering the bridge with LEDs

The solar array – part of the Vector system used to power the Auckland Harbour Bridge - will generate over 200MWh of power in a typical year; that’s enough power to keep 20 households⁹ running for a year.
Given the splendid efficiency of our LEDs, if the bridge is lit for events 75 nights a year, and with architectural lighting on all other nights, we’ll use less than half the total power generated. The remainder of the energy generated will go towards powering the street lights, and any other energy requirements on the bridge; additional energy not used will go back into the grid, so over the course of a year the system will produce more power than it uses.

NZTA have seen the light too - they’re running a programme to replace streetlights in Auckland with LED bulbs. They estimate that once the street lights on the bridge are replaced they’ll save 40MWh per year – 4 households worth of energy.

By using solar and batteries to provide the power for all the lighting on the bridge, we’re avoiding a potential 27 tons of carbon per year going into the atmosphere. That’s 76kg of carbon every day¹⁰. So we’re reducing carbon emissions whilst adding more lights to the bridge – now that’s smart technology.

Our state of the art LED event lights:

200x Martin – Exterior Wash 200 RGBW

+11,000 Martin – VC-Dot 9

+2,000 Martin – Exterior PixLine 40

Vector, in partnership with Auckland Council and in collaboration with the NZ transport agency, is excited to be lighting the Harbour Bridge with smart energy technology. This article is one in a series about the Vector Lights project. See more here.

Sources

27 May 2017