Traffic lights are ancient tech. All it is — a light on a traffic controlled sensor. Heck, cheaper counties and local governments such as my own aren’t even that technologically savvy opting for the ‘ol timer controlled method. And we all know how much those suck. We’ve all been there, sitting at a red light with no one in sight. All is not lost as one saving grace from Cheng-Tsung Feng, Yao-Chieh Lin and Bo-Jin Wang is truly impressive if not a rehashed subject. Solar powered stop lights make all the sense in the world. Free energy! During the day, the sun powers the lights while a battery backup system keeps them going throughout the night. Traffic lights are a very function over form type of device and that’s ok because how often do you really comment on the styling of your local traffic lights? That’s what I thought. Never.
Another issue with current traffic lights is their stacked approach. Why use excess materials and energy with the common three bulb layout when you can use one? Again, the designers mentioned above had hit another homerun as this solar stop light users a discolor LED allowing red, yellow, and green (or whichever colors your locale uses) to all be displayed within one unit. Sadly, this concept is just that, a concept. Still, I’m reserving some hope that some city, somewhere, will take it upon themselves to make these swanky lights a reality. 2040 here we come.
December 26, 2009 at 9:55 pm
There is a reason stoplights use three separate lights in a specific order- colorblind drivers. Using only one light- disaster.
November 3, 2009 at 5:36 am
Hi,
Great post and so helpful. Thanks.