Magazine
Good night sight

In Gütersloh, Lemgo, Saalfeld, Dörentrup, Bakum, Belgershain, Rahden, Gross Pankow and Weilburg the word is: Call – and the lights go on! These local authorities have decided that, given the expense, certain streets and paths will in future only be lit on demand. Only on a request being placed by phone will the street lights go on – for a period of 15 minutes. However, there are also alternative ways of lighting up public spaces, paths and streets both flexibly and cost effectively. Energy-efficient models are all the rage, above all given the fact that street lighting accounts on average for 40 percent of local authority financing and it thus often the single largest item in their budgets, not to forget the political insistence on energy savings as part of European climate protection policies.

LEDs are very clearly the favorite in this regard as they have clear advantages such as little light pollution, perfectly focused beams, especial bright light, and above all fit-to-purpose automatic controls. Which is why an increasing number of manufacturers offer street lights with LEDs, companies such as Zumtobel or Ewo in fact now only sell models that rely on LEDs. Slightly more than held the 9-million-odd street lights in Germany have thusfar been switched to LEDs, but some local authorities were simply unable to afford to make the change. The good news: As of this year, there have been more subsidies from the Federal government for the switch-over!

In our overview we show which street lights are not only energy-efficient but look great and provide great light into the bargain. (mm)