5 October 2007
Johannesburg — SA's first solar-powered traffic light intersection has been unveiled in Cape Town, and the development could spell the end of traffic chaos caused by power-cut stricken robots.
The pilot site -- an eight-robot intersection on Plantation Road, Montagu's Gift -- was retrofitted with energy efficient LED lights, a monitoring unit, a solar panel and batteries as part of a three-month assessment period.
The intersection was successfully taken off Eskom's power supply at a ceremonial solar switch on Monday.
The aim is to assess whether sun power can keep the robots working normally at all times, and see if the controlling technology can successfully handle transitions between Eskom outages and solar power.
Besides the potential benefits for motorists, the robots are also more environmentally friendly, because they rely on renewable solar energy, and do not use power generated by burning fossil fuels like coal. In the future, the robots could even add excess energy to the national grid.
The 4m' solar panel -- mounted on a lamppost height pole to prevent theft -- can generate 500W. Currently an average traffic intersection uses about the same amount of power during a month as a three-bedroom house. It is estimated that Cape Town's robots draw the same amount of power as 1200 three-bedroom homes.
This means potential energy savings in the future would be sizeable if all robots changed from halogen lights to energy efficient LED clusters powered by the sun.
Barry Bredenkamp, operations manager of the National Energy Efficiency Agency, which has backed the project, said the pilot site was a very welcome step along the path to an energy efficient SA.
"This is a very exciting initiative, both in terms of relieving traffic congestion and its energy saving benefits," he commented.
"The main aim is to keep the robot working normally during power cuts, and determine to what extent traffic intersections can be run without Eskom power," said Bredenkamp.
Stefan Hanel, director and engineer from MagCode SA, the Cape Town-based company implementing the project, said depending on weather conditions and use, the batteries could last three days without charging.
" The batteries should be able to power the robots for about three cloudy days," he said.
ACCOLADE FOR CLEAN, GREEN ARCHITECTURE
AMID a growing social consciousness for environmentally friendly construction and choices, a private home in Gauteng has been voted SA's best green building in the third annual Visi-South African Institute of Architects (Saia) national survey.
The Van Dijk's home beat 11 national buildings, ranging from corporate head offices and distribution centres, an art gallery and a community centre.
Presenting an innovative use of plain cement and glass, the Van Dijk house garnered nearly 60% more votes than the second-placed Trace Gas Monitoring Laboratory in Cape Town, where architectural design has produced a free flow of natural stone to blend in with the surrounding hillside and fynbos.
Third place, by a single point, went to the BP head office in Cape Town - another pioneering design that considered the benefits of solar panelling and alternative power sources -- followed by the Reservoir Art Gallery in Bloemfontein.
The survey, sent to 2500 respondents nationally, invited South Africans to vote for their favourite green building via the Visi website over a six-week period.
The 12 buildings were nominated by the regional Saia presidents based on environmentally friendly and energy efficient design.
According to Visi editor Sumien Brink, "green" buildings address temperature control to ensure that lower amounts of energy are required to keep the building cool or warm, and -- wherever possible -- local skills and materials are employed and used during the building process.
Solar or wind power, the use of recycled materials and restrictions on ecologically damaging materials encompasses the elements of sound green building practices.
"In short, green buildings are safer and healthier and are aligned with the principles of sustainable development," says Brink. "Huis van Dijk wholly embodies the desire to minimise the ecological impact by giving back to the environment."
In what may become a reflection of future architectural design and guidelines, the survey revealed that people wishing to build houses from renewable resources chose primarily natural stone.
Their second choice was timber from demolished houses and recycled materials.
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