Plans are in place to roll out bright white streetlamps across Northern Ireland in an effort to increase safety and energy efficiency.Most of Northern Ireland is currently covered in yellow sodium street lamps, with the most powerful lamps on main roads and in the city centre. These lights use between 35 and 400 watts of power depending on brightness, putting an enormous pressure on energy consumption in Northern Ireland.
You may have noticed that some of your local street lamps have been replaced with bright white bulbs, which produce significantly more light and actually use far less electricity than the old sodium bulbs. LED technology has advanced rapidly in the past few years, and the new LED streetlights not only consume less than half the electricity but also produce more useful white light and last far longer than the alternatives.
A pilot scheme to switch Northern Ireland's street lights to new LED bulbs took place a few years ago in Armagh and Banbridge, and the scheme is now being rolled out across Northern Ireland. The new lights make the streets and roads safer by making it easier to distinguish detail at night compared to the old lights, and will provide more light for CCTV cameras to work with.
Some objections about the lights have been raised from those concerned about the health effects of blue light at night. It's been known for several years that blue light at certain wavelengths can affect your sleep cycle, and seeing it at night can confuse your body into thinking it's day time and disrupt your sleep.
Source: BBC News
About the author
Brendan is a Sync NI writer with a special interest in the gaming sector, programming, emerging technology, and physics. To connect with Brendan, feel free to send him an email or follow him on Twitter.
Got a news-related tip you’d like to see covered on Sync NI? Email the editorial team for our consideration.
Sign up now for a FREE weekly newsletter showcasing the latest news, jobs and events in NI’s tech sector.