A French company called Windela has come up with an innovative street light, dubbed Windelux that can tap both wind and solar power. It is equipped with two wind turbines placed in vertical axis and a photovoltaic panel. Wind and sun couple together to power the battery installed inside the base of the pole during the day; during night, only wind comes into real business. It received the 2009 RETHINK award under innovative start-up category for its environment friendly concept.
Salient features:
• Photosensitive cell located at the head of the lighting assembly allows for automatic switching of the light on and off.
• When wind reaches 20 metes/second wind generator comes to a complete halt.
• Remote monitoring of batteries and LEDs is possible through use of radio waves.
• Lamp composed of 84 LEDs, with 1Watt each, produces an illumination of 23 Lux covering a surface 0f 25X 6 meters.
• Recyclable batteries installed in series under a 48V direct tension are capable of providing light for four nights with no wind.
• Depending on the speed of the wind, it can generate up to 100W to 700W power.
The product is an attractive proposition for developing countries that lack electricity infrastructure to support conventional streetlights. However, Windelux has struck a cord even with environmentally conscious developed countries.
Via: CleanTechnica