During my last trip to Germany, even a brief stay in Hamburg, where I am residing during my research projects, I have noticed almost every lamp on the street was replaced with solid-state lighting. Where there was once florescent light fixtures throughout the area including the mini parks littered throughout the city, have almost all been replaced with solid-state lighting. After reading the Vatenfall news letter, the water and power service provider, it would seem that the fixtures utilize Cree Jupiter LEDs. These LEDs are 6-watt units that deliver close to 180-lumens/watt at 7.2VDC with a maximum of 12-VDC and 800-milliamps.
The newsletter stated that in an effort to reduce power consumption after Chancellor Merkel's decision to become a nuclear free country, Vatenfall went forward in replacing the LED lamps in three major cities. Through the assistance of the three major Universities in the northern part of Germany, Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen were the cities chosen to undergo the transformation. Further research shows that by switching from florescent lighting to LED lamp technology, more light is able to be spread out over a larger area while consuming a conservative 50% less electrical energy. This is a great way to save on electricity while still being able to say that a city is going Green. The future of lighting is here and the Cree LED is one method to reach that goal. Luxeon would have been another choice, but the German firm was seeking for highest level of consistency in the uniform color of the light while also delivering the highest light output without any constricting optics.
Through the assistance of Hella, the Free Form Reflector technology allowed the light to be emitted in an exceptionally uniform fashion while creating a proper casting of white color temperature across the board. There were no corona rings or any changes in the color temperature even when the light reaches to outer edges of the optical range. That is quite impressive especially the same technology is being employed on the 2012 Audi A8L and the R8 luxury vehicles.
Some food for thought.
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