Luminaires bring circularity to the streets

“Our current economic model of take-make-waste isn’t sustainable. I’m proud that with these two new streetlight generations we’re leading the lighting industry into this new economic model, which will allow us to extend the use of materials and avoid destroying resources and support our customers in implementing more sustainable technologies,” said Harsh Chitale, Business Group Leader Professional at Signify. “Circularity will be one of the key customer requirements in taking decisions on street lighting upgrades, in line with the growing attention to sustainable initiatives around the globe.

According to a report by Northeast Group, there are approximately 308 million streetlights in the world, of which 27% are LED and only five percent connected. Northeast’s expectation is that in the coming three years the number of streetlights will increase to 321 million, with the proportion of LED growing to 43% and connected lighting to 11%, illustrating the vast growth potential.

The new generations of Luma and Iridium are fulfilling the requirements of a circular economy by being energy efficient in application, serviceable, connected, having a long/extendable lifetime and by being recyclable.

Luma has an efficacy of 160 lumen/Watt and Iridium 155 lumen/Watt, making both best-in-class within their respective range. As components can be easily replaced, the luminaires can also be upgraded when future efficacy advancements are available. The luminaires can also be configured to best suit their application.

The introduction of GearFlex - a gear tray which includes driver, surge protector and other components - allows for opening and maintenance of the luminaires without the use of tools, which is a unique feature for both luminaires. This helps installers to replace and reprogram drivers within 30 seconds, without the need to touch any wiring and reducing the time they spend at a pole. This increases their safety and that of other road users. The luminaires also include a service tag that allows easy access to spare parts.

The luminaires are both system and sensor ready. They can, for instance, be connected to City Management Systems like Interact City, Signify’s wireless connected lighting system, turning street lighting into a connected network that can host sensors and other IoT-enabled devices. Interact City enables remote management of the street lighting infrastructure, including the control and lifetime monitoring over the streetlights with just a few clicks, allowing operators to optimise operations, minimise energy consumptions, schedule preventive maintenance and to keep an overview of all the connected lights.

Both luminaires have a lifetime of more than 100,000 hours. On top of that, spare parts and upgradeable components significantly prolong the product lifetime.

Luma and Iridium are designed to use natural resources in a much more effective and regenerative way. Most of the materials and components can be recovered for reuse or recycling, closing the materials loop according to circular economy principles.

The Luma gen2 and Iridium gen4 luminaires will be available to Professional customers in Europe from March 2020.