One third of Europe’s street lighting is inefficient, costly and a burden to Kyoto targets, according to lighting manufacturer Philips.

The offending lamps are the ageing 1960s mercury vapour luminaires, which consume large amounts of electricity and produce large CO2 emissions.

Philips is launching a campaign aimed at creating awareness of the problem and the need to improve the energy efficiency of Europe’s street lighting. Its figures show that if the 35 million mercury lamp and gear systems were replaced, European municipalities would save between 600 and 700 million euro per year in running costs and Europe would reduce its CO2 emissions by 3·5 million tonnes annually.

Source

Electrical and Mechanical Contractor

Postscript

Philips has announced the investment of 35 million euro in its Turnhout lighting plant in Belgium. The investment will be in the extension of production of Master Color CDM lamps.