Apr 8 2008
Echelon Corporation announced today that the city of Oslo's intelligent street lighting system has been cited as a "best practices" example by the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, a partnership of 40 of the world's largest cities and the Clinton Foundation's Climate Initiative. Using its LonWorks® based streetlight system, Oslo has reduced energy consumption by 70% and cut CO2 emissions by 1440 tons per year. The system uses Echelon's i.LON® Internet servers and power line networking products to enable the system to be remotely monitored and adjusted to provide different levels of lighting based on the time of day and weather conditions.
“The smart streetlight system has made an impact on every aspect of the city. The city is safer, less expensive to maintain, and all while reducing energy use and beautifying the city,” said Tom Kristoffersen, Head of section Operation and Maintenance, at the city of Oslo. “The reduced carbon footprint helps us adhere to European directives and makes us a greener city.”
“Streetlights are a large consumer of energy for cities, using up to 40 percent or more of a city's energy budget. If every city installed a similar system this would go a long way towards reducing energy use worldwide and therefore reducing carbon dioxide levels,” said Bea Yormark, Echelon's president and COO. “The city of Oslo exemplifies what can be achieved by applying technology available today to help resolve energy efficiency challenges.”
Yormark continued, “If every city installed a similar system, it would have a tremendous impact on both energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. For example, a report recent study conducted through the Ford Foundation Fellowship projected that the top 10 metropolitan regions in the U.S. alone could save $90 million annually in electricity costs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 1.2 million metric tons of CO2, the equivalent of removing 212,768 cars from the road or the savings of 131,863,292 gallons of gasoline.”