A study by the AA found that accidents have reduced by 15.6% over the past five years. However, when street lights are not present, this reduction was only found to be at 2%. In addition to the reduction in motor vehicle accidents, a review on street lights showed a 21% drop in crime where street lighting was present. Despite these clear advantages, councils are being forced to turn off streets lights due to rising costs.
With green energy’s popularity continuing to rise, a sustainable design must be seen as the solution to this problem. The task for this brief was to create a self-powered street light that will be able to be attached to current street lighting poles in order to minimise installation costs.
By using dimensions and by calculating the turbines efficiency at an average UK wind speed, the turbine could theoretically produce 30 watts of power - Easily enough to run the 18 watt lighting system. A simple and cost effective solution to a critical problem in the UK.
