This Clean-Energy Startup Has Developed and Installed Footstep-Powered Streetlights in Las Vegas
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Las Vegas — a city normally known for its casinos, tourism and seemingly never-ending nightlife — is now the site of a clean tech project that aims to reduce the environmental impact of the city’s bright lights.
New York-based startup EnGoPlanet is now testing new LED streetlights powered by clean energy. The company’s lights are powered by a combination of photovoltaic panels and kinetic footpads. Combined with a battery setup, EnGoPlanet’s platform functions entirely off-the-grid by utilizing both solar and kinetic power, according to DigitalTrends.
The kinetic footpanels can generate up to 8 watts just by pedestrians walking over the top of them — depending on the pressure of each footstep, of course. Additionally, the included solar panels generate their own energy — incredibly useful for a city that averages 294 sunny days per year. The energy from both sources is collected and stored in a battery for powering the lights at night, which also feature customizable colors that can be tweaked for local events or according to the season, ARS Technica reported.
Partnering with the city of Las Vegas, the clean tech startup has installed four of their prototype streetlights at Boulder Plaza in downtown Las Vegas. The company’s setup also powers several security cameras, a device charging station, and even a Wi-Fi hotspot in the plaza. In addition, the platform has sensors that can monitor environmental and air quality statistics, which could be used by city planners or other groups for “smart analytics,” Engadget reported.
The streetlights and their corresponding energy sources in Las Vegas are just a trial, and EnGoPlanet hopes to install similar streetlights on the entirety of the Las Vegas Strip, or in other metropolitan areas like New York, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Beyond that, one of EnGoPlanet’s goals is to address electricity access issues in developing parts of the world, and the clean energy startup has recently began a crowdfunding campaign to install the footstep-powered streetlights in parts of Africa.
