Making a case for white light-emitting diodes in the Western Cape

Abstract

Within the context of the energy crisis in the Western Cape, the Provincial Government and Eskom (the South African power utility) embarked on a retrofit campaign to install 5 million compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) in a desperate attempt to decrease the generation deficit. There is also increased pressure for investments in new generation capacity, with all options including the Pebble Bed Modular reactor (PBMR), the Open Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGT) as well as renewable resource technologies being pro-posed. Despite all these concerted efforts it is wide-ly regarded that demand-side technologies, with education programs, subsidies and research fund-ing, have greater scope for achieving success as they tackle the root cause rather than the symptom.The light emitting diode (LED) is a new energy efficient option in the lighting sector that has in recent times been deployed extensively by the City of Cape Town’s Transport Network Operations Department. The technology promises superior attributes that include a longer lifespan and higher energy conversion efficiencies, when compared to the traditional incandescents and fluorescents. This paper details the achievements of the LED in its brief history in the local traffic and signals industry as well as its projected impact on the city traffic light department’s future energy and mainte-nance budget. It is then proposed that these mono-chromatic signal LEDs, which is fast evolving into a white LED, holds the best promise in Cape Town as well as the Western Cape’s energy future if adopted for general lighting in the domestic, commercial and industrial market.