A city in Denmark will switch to red street lights along major roads to combat the effects of light pollution from artificial lighting on a bat colony, while also testing smart technology that could interact with cars.
Gladsaxe, located northwest of the Danish capital Copenhagen, has begun installing around 5,000 red light-emitting diode (LED) street lights, including along the tree-lined Frederiksborgvej, where seven species of bats have been found.
Accordingly Daily GalaxyThe transition from white to red lighting follows findings from the Danish Road Directorate (DRD), which show that bats are disturbed by short-wave light, such as the white, blue and green wavelengths.
Switching to red LEDs introduces longer wavelength light, which the DRD says has less impact on the bats’ ability to echolocate and also has less impact on breeding and feeding behavior.
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The red LEDs also provide sufficient lighting for the safety of road users, consume less electricity than sodium vapor lamps and require less maintenance.
If necessary, the brightness can be adjusted and the lights also have motion detection technology.
In addition to reducing disruption to bats and other wildlife, the red lighting is intended to remind residents and commuters of areas where endangered species live and move, thereby helping to raise public awareness.
The Danish project is partly funded by the European Union’s Lighting Metropolis – Green Mobility program, which covers cities in Denmark and neighboring Sweden, and has seen around 50,000 LEDs replace older streetlights.
In Australia, street lighting is more often based on white LEDs and, as networks are renewed, they are replacing the older sodium vapor lamps with their more yellowish glow. Warm white LEDs that can be dimmed to reduce light pollution are being trialled on Victoria’s Bass Coast.
The introduction of smart LEDs in Europe could eventually lead to street lights interacting with software-defined vehicles (SDVs) of the future.
“The streetlight has come of age. Think of it as not just providing high-quality lighting, but also as a digital node with its own IP address on a network that spans every street and street in your city,” said Harry Verhaar, a spokesman for Dutch company Signify, in a 2021 report The Parliament.
“These streetlights have the potential to host 5G and Wi-Fi connectivity, remote-controlled billboards, video surveillance and microphones capable of detecting sudden loud noises that can be quickly investigated,” Mr Verhaar said.
“Nodes and sensors can provide data-based insights into power consumption, noise pollution and traffic. Additionally, the brightness of the light can be controlled to adapt to nearby activities.”
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