Sin City's Streets Going Solar

From our main site and a follow up to our coverage this week of the explosion of growth, certainly around the US, of the solar industry.  Vegas and all of Nevada are clearly great sites for clean energy production given the natural resources and abundance of sunshine:

 
EnGoPLANET announced a partnership with the City of Las Vegas. Through the partnership with the city, EnGoPLANET will install their innovative solar-kinetic street lights solution at Boulder Plaza. It will be the first-ever installation in the world of this street lighting technology that combines kinetic and solar energy.

EnGoPLANET is a New York City-based clean tech start-up, and the company aims to become a leader in the off-the-grid street lighting industry. The company 
 plans to partner with Cities, Universities and Large Corporations in deploying this clean solution to light streets. According to their team, there are 300+ million inefficient street lights globally that must be replaced over the next decade.

EnGoPLANET’s Street Light is off-the-grid solution, powered by combining kinetic and solar energy. Kinetic energy is harvested from pedestrians’ footsteps via kinetic energy pads. When someone steps over a kinetic tile, energy is created and goes directly to the battery. The street light solution is also equipped with sensors that collect real-time data. The USB ports and Wireless Charging pad incorporated into the pole are additional useful features of the product.

Petar Mirovic, CEO of EnGoPLANET, said, “No corner of the planet and no sector of the global economy will remain unaffected by climate change in the years ahead. Currently, street lights in the world release more than 100 million tons of CO2 per year. Our generation has the moral responsibility to transform our energy system. EnGoPLANET’s Street Light solution will revolutionize the way we illuminate streets. It will reduce CO2 consumption by using only renewable energy sources, and also lowers maintenance bills. With many new features, these street lights will make cities smarter.”

 

He added, “If you look at traditional street light poles, you will see that they are useless. They simply hold the lighting. With our solution, we’ve changed that by incorporating useful features into the pole and transforming it into a free service spot where people can rest, charge their portable devices, or connect to WiFi.”

“The city of Las Vegas is a leader in sustainability, from our commitment to renewable energy to recycling, our alternative-fuel vehicles and streetlights,” said Mayor Carolyn G. Goodman and added:

“We are always interested in exploring new technologies that can help us to preserve our city for future generations."

- See more at: http://www.renewablenow.biz/the-sustainable-community.html#sthash.F3Rba5AV.dpuf