Solar lights part of sustainable vision

Mawson Lakes Development in Adelaide has teamed with University of South Australia researchers and designers, and Street and Park Furniture to create innovative solar lighting that saves almost enough energy to light eight average houses for an entire year.

The 28 new generation solar lights, which were recently installed around the Sir Douglas Mawson Lake at Mawson Lakes, reduce electricity use by 4000 kWh and carbon dioxide emissions by four tonnes each year.

Mawson Lakes Project Director Chris Branford said the lights had been specifically designed to fit in with the Mawson Lakes' vision to become a sustainable community.

"The design process was unique because the solar panel was specifically designed to suit the lighting design. Normally the design of the light is determined by the shape of the solar panels, which are usually large flat pre-made panels to maximise the amount of sunlight captured by the panels," Mr Branford said.

"In this case, the challenge was to make solar cells which fitted our design needs.

"The new solar lighting fits perfectly with our strategy to create a truly sustainable community and our commitment to actively reduce domestic energy use by 50 per cent when compared with the Adelaide average," he said.

Another example of Mawson Lakes' commitment to actively reduce domestic energy is the mandating of solar hot water systems to all new homes.

Unlike conventional solar lights, the new lights feature a curved solar panel, which is integrated in the reflector design using technologies developed for solar cars by researchers from the University of South Australia's Sustainable Energy Centre (SEC).

Apart from their smart appearance, the lights are designed to make full use of the electricity generated from the sun, with special features that allow them to give illumination throughout the night, even after several cloudy winter days, according to Associate Professor Wasim Saman, Director of the SEC.

"They can be programmed to turn on automatically 30 minutes after sunset. Once on, they limit themselves to five hours of full brightness, and then dim in the early morning hours," Associate Professor Saman said.

The solar lights were designed by a multidisciplinary team from University of South Australia including a former industrial design graduate through Street and Park Furniture, in collaboration with Mawson Lakes Development.

Professor Saman said that University of South Australia had been collaborating with the Mawson Lakes Development project team over several years on energy matters including innovative ways of using alternative energy and reducing conventional energy use.

The average household in Mawson Lakes uses 550kWh to light a house per year according to results of monitoring carried out by the SEC at Mawson Lakes.

Mawson Lakes is being developed by Delfin Lend Lease and Land Management Corporation, and will eventually house approximately 10,000 people in 4,000 homes.

Item provided courtesy of University of South Australia