Norway has installed auto-dimming street lights in parts of the country in hopes of decreasing its carbon footprint.
Along a five-mile stretch of a highway near Hole, Norway, outside of Oslo, LED lights dim to 20 percent when no cars, bikes or pedestrians are in the area.
When a car – or a cyclist or pedestrian for that matter – passes a radar sensor attached to the street lights, the lights turn to a full 100 per cent, allowing people to have full sight of what’s ahead of them.
After the car passes, the lights return to 20 per cent to save energy when they’re not needed.
Along a five-mile stretch of a highway near Hole, Norway, outside of Oslo, LED lights dim to 20 percent when no cars are in area. When a car drives by, the lights turn to 100 per cent
After the car passes, the lights return to 20 per cent to save energy when they’re not needed
The five-mile stretch of energy-saving lights saves 2,100 kWH per week, which would amount to approximately 21 hours of ironing, or four hours of watching TV on a plasma screen.
Using LED lights helps reduce CO2 emissions by using less power compared to halogen and fluorescent sources.
While it is unclear how much the installation cost, it the government will break even after just 4.5 years, according to Youtuber Bjørn Nyland.
Light-related energy saving programs have popped up across Norway, with similar auto lights being put in on the western side of the state last year.
In Oslo, energy consumption has reduced dramatically since ‘intelligent lighting’ systems were installed in the late 2000s.
The country is moving to work toward environmentally friendly projects in other areas as well.
Norway’s parliament in 2015 ordered the country’s $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund,built on revenues from the country’s vast offshore oil and gas industry, divest from companies which derived more than 30 percent of their turnover or activity from coal.
The five-mile stretch of energy-saving lights saves 2,100 kWH per week, which would amount to approximately 21 hours of ironing, or four hours of watching TV on a plasma screen
Using LED lights helps reduce CO2 emissions by using less power compared to halogen and fluorescent sources
Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg said Norway would support an initiative launched at the meeting by French President Emmanuel Macron for sovereign wealth funds to demand more rigorous environment-related corporate governance from the firms they invest in.
The group, called the ‘One Planet Sovereign Wealth Fund Working Group’, includes funds from New Zealand, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Norway and Abu Dhabi, according to a draft document.
Norway’s fund already demands that larger companies provide details on how they measure their carbon dioxide footprint and how they plan to reduce those emissions.
Institutional investors needed to put a price on climate risk to safeguard returns on their investments, she said.
Norway’s fund has proposed dropping oil and gas companies from its benchmark index to diversify away from hydrocarbons given the economy is built on oil and gas. That would mean cutting its investments companies such as Royal Dutch Shell , BP, Chevron and Exxon Mobil.
The government is holding a review and Solberg reiterated her government’s intention to make a recommendation to parliament – which must vote on such a move – next year.
Solberg’s conservative-led government rules in a minority, and is dependent on two smaller environment-friendly parties to win backing for its policies.