The holiday season is quickly approaching -- though I'm sure many of you would argue, it's already here! On that note, I'd like to tell you about a cool high-tech project that is going on right now in my home town of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Ottawa will soon be getting LED holiday lights! What makes these lights so extra special? They're solar powered! Solar powered LED holiday lights have been a success in downtown Toronto, Ontario for a few years now and Ottawa is up next to strip down their costly and wasteful standard Christmas lights in favour of some greener ones of many colours!
Every year, many of the 55 Toronto Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) brighten up their streets with decorative lights. Back in 2006, Bloor West Village lit up their streets by using solar power.
Bloor West Village BIA and the Toronto Economic Development Office installed 42 Photo-voltaic (PV) Solar Panels to provide power to LED holiday lights in 87 trees in the BIA. The PV Solar Panels were installed on the upper portions of the old street light poles and in new decorative poles. The power generated during daylight hours by the PV Solar Panel will be stored in a battery, which is installed directly on the poles as well. In the evening, the power stored is released to light up the LED lights on the trees.
The power produced by the PV Solar Panels in Bloor West Village BIA lights up over 348 sets of LED holiday lights and as a result, regularly removes over 1.5 kW from the grid! In addition to the energy savings, Bloor West Village benefits from infrastructure savings due to the elimination of meters and wiring.
Driven by the local BIAs in Toronto, what started with energy saving light emitting diode technology in holiday lighting displays has progressed to solar power and other energy conservation initiatives. The BIAs are committed to energy reduction and the environment, delivering this message through greenTbiz, a program dedicated to this mandate within the BIAs… thinking green and saving green!
Don't you wish every city pushed for this cool technology? Well, you can help. Find yourself a tech job today and get pushing that envelope! http://www.techcareers.com/
Bambi Blue is a freelance writer, editor, and codemonkey living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She moonlights as a jazz musician, a social butterfly, and most apparently a weisenheimer. Loves to cook, hates to clean, and can easily be found on Twitter.
"Image from dreamstime.com"
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