The City of Eindhoven, a city in the south of The Netherlands will be the first city to turn of the lights at night. Eindhoven has become known because of the light bulb, manufactured at the Philips factories. Eindhoven is also known for its yearly 'light route'.
A tour around the city known for its nice designed lights that are hung up just for this cause. This is why Eindhoven has got the nickname 'City of Light'.
Because of this, it looks like 'Eindhoven is ignoring its past. This is not true, says Mary Fiers, Alderman of Living and Environment. Eindhoven received its image because of the production of light bulbs, but its also know because of its image of innovation. The discussion was started by Minister Cramer of Environment. He asked the Dutch municipals to dim the lights. The lights of Government buildings is already turned off at 23.00h. in the evening, but they also want the lighted billboards and sphere lights turned of at that time. Fiers wants to change the law in a way that new permits will only be issued when the companies turn of the lights at night.
This does not only save a lot of energy, but it seems, from research, that a lot of people find all this light annoying. For existing permits, the board hopes that companies are willing to turn off the lights at their free will. Because this decision is now global, the discussion can now start, says Fiers.
Lighted billboards are only a small part of the energy savings. Turning off the public lighting such as the lights above the roads would gain much more reduction on energy use. Eindhoven is now researching to exchange all the lights at once with a more modern and more energy efficient solution. A possibility for this is LED technology. Changing this all at once is of course a huge investment, but it also would mean a huge energy reduction and the return on investment will be on a short term.
The area 'Vaartbroek' already uses new lights, which saves 30% on energy use. There are also tests with lights turned on or off by sensors. When someone walks, cycles or drives there, the lights turn on automatically. This is not always possible since lights also provide an important sense of safety.
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The City of Eindhoven, a city in the south of The Netherlands will be the first city to turn of the lights at night. Eindhoven has become known because of the light bulb, manufactured at the Philips factories. Eindhoven is also known for its yearly 'light route'.
A tour around the city known for its nice designed lights that are hung up just for this cause. This is why Eindhoven has got the nickname 'City of Light'.
