Last weekend the Italian village of Torraca proclaimed itself the world’s first “LED city”, unveiling new streetlights that emit a bright, white and ecologically green glow. 700 hundred street lamps were installed, each lamp contains 54 LEDs. LED lights are combined with photovoltaic cells (solar batteries), which makes the city energy self sustained.
LED lights are 80% more efficient, than incandescent bulbs. This allowed dramatically reduce total area of expensive solar panels.
Torraca’s street lights utilize Cree XR-E LEDs with brightness of up to 104 lm/W (Q4 bin). Some resources refer to it as the “brightest LED on the market”. This is not quite true. Luxeon Rebel LXML-PWC1-0100 also provide 100 lm/W, while priced about 20% cheaper.
Installation was performed by Gebison Electronics ( Filadelfio Cammarano). The Photovoltaic Plant project has been developed by Luigi Pascuzzi.
Torraca’s new lights should earn the town a place in history, alongside Holborn Viaduct in London, where the first electric streetlights were deployed in 1878.
