Futuristic Apartment Tower Lit By Motion-Sensing LEDs
by Justin Thomas, Virginia on 04.26.06
The new “Turning Torso” residential tower in Malmö, Sweden, is not only an architectural feat but a state-of-the-art example use of LEDs for residential lighting. Guests or residents heading to apartments on the upper floors are greeted with automatic lighting triggered by motion sensors for LEDs. No additional light sources are necessary, and LEDs thus demonstrate their potential in "real" lighting solutions. The main objective for the lighting installations in the corridor areas was to keep service costs down throughout the lifespan of the equipment. The tower is also supplied with 100% locally produced renewable energy, and the tower is said to be living up to the objective of 105 kWh per square meter per year. :: LED Magazine
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I just installed a motion sensor in our back entryway because my wife kept forgetting to turn off the light when she left, so it could easily be on for hours until I noticed and turned it off.
Unfortunately, my motion sensor doesn't work with CFL bulbs, so I went out and bought an incadescent. Now I'm wondering how much energy the motion sensor itself draws all day, and if it will wind up using MORE energy than just the CFL bulb that was occasionally left on for hours a day.
So does that mean you can see them turning on in front of you and going off behind? How cool!!!
I wonder if you were watching the building from a distance, if you'd be able to see 'light trails' as people move through the building. If it doesn't do it now, the people who made the equipment should take note!!!
And it's LEDs. Brilliant.
I've got an outdoor motion detector that uses slightly less than 1 watt an hour. That is about 24 watts a day, every day. Assuming one has a similar motion detector and has a bulb that consumes 24 watts an hour, leaving the bulb on unnecessarily for one hour a day every day would be the same consumption as the motion detector. But many outdoor lights tend to use much more than 24 watts. One would have to do the calculation for how much their bulb consumes times how many hours on average the light is left on unnecessarily. In my case, the motion detector saves energy. I would like to install 12V motion detectors throughout my house but have been unable to find any adequate ones for interior residential use. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Also, the EPA says that motion sensors tend to save 50% of the bulbs energy consumption. http://www.energystar.gov/ia/new_homes/features/HighELighting1-17-01.pdf
And a study funded by the California Energy Commission also came to the 50% savings conclusion. http://www.archenergy.com/lrp/products/brochures/deliverable_6.2.5_CaseStudy_4.1.pdf
Beautiful and creative. What more can you ask for? Oh it's environmentally friendly too? What the heck. I'm all in.
What Carl said! LEDs are perfect for an application like that, since they don't mind being turned on and off thousands or millions of times (with both incandescents and fluorescents, turning on and off puts some stress on the bulb, I believe). Some clever programming might be needed to make sure that the lights don't turn off too quickly and completely if you stop moving in the hallway, but the effect of having the lights follow you around, only as needed, would be brilliant indeed.