Eco Factor: Solar-powered street lights from Sanyo.
Sanyo has launched solar-powered streetlights at the Eco-Products 2008 fair at the Tokyo Big Sight in Japan. The energy-efficient streetlights come with LED bulbs to make the energy captured during the day last longer. Sanyo’s solar streetlights stand apart from the rest due to the use of lithium-ion secondary batteries, which replace traditional lead batteries that are not as efficient.
Apart from the added ecofriendliness, the lithium-ion batteries also come in a package just half the size of a lead counterpart. This small size has enabled the company to reduce the size of the final product and also cut down on their installation costs.
The Dark Side:
The lithium-ion batteries are better in terms of capacity and efficiency, but the cost of these batteries is much more than the lead-acid counterparts, which may keep these lights from being adopted globally.
Via: GoodCleanTech/TechOn
