Around the World with Yunex Traffic: Slovakia
New Coloroufull Bridge Illumination in Bratislava reduces energy consumption and CO2 footprint
In June 2022, Yunex Traffic’s Slovak Centre of Excellence for Intelligent Street Lighting successfully completed the next phase of the reconstruction of the public lighting of the SNP bridge over the Danube River in Bratislava, the capital of the Slovak Republic. The iconic bridge with a gourmet restaurant on the pylons has received a new night-time image representing the latest technical possibilities of public lighting as part of “smart city” platforms and systems.
The entire management system is part of Yunex Traffic’s Smart Light Management Platform, which also ensures the daily operation and monitoring of 47,000 public luminaires in the city of Bratislava, as well as the management and monitoring of 750 switchgears in the city.
Phase 1: Illumination of the “UFO” with RGB LED floodlights
The first phase involved upgrading the lighting on the highest part of the restaurant’s bridge with modern RGB LED spotlights. In addition to the standard white lighting, the restaurant’s “UFO” can also be illuminated with different colours. On ordinary days, the lighting is connected to the weather forecast service and displays the weather or warnings for more than 500,000 residents and visitors of Bratislava at regular quarter-hourly intervals. At the same time, this part of the lighting is used to express the support or affiliation of city residents on memorial or awareness days. For example, the bridge silhouette is colourfully illuminated on Autism Awareness Day or on the Day of Remembrance for the Fight against Cancer.
Phase 2: Replacement of the pedestrian bridge lighting
The second phase, completed in June 2022, consisted of a comprehensive replacement of the pedestrian bridge lighting on the Budapest side of the bridge. 285 outdated and energy-consuming luminaires with mercury vapour lamps and an output of 120 W were replaced with modern LED luminaires. These highly efficient luminaires with an input power of only 36 W save approximately 75,000 kWh of electricity annually, which corresponds to a reduction of the CO2 footprint by 12 tonnes. In addition to the ability to continuously change the light intensity, these luminaires also allow independent communication and control via cloud management system for each lamp. This also enables the creation of individual light scenes and images.
Replacing street lighting and significantly reducing the carbon footprint: What sounds like a small change can make a big difference: That is what the project in Bratislava proves to us once again. What adjustments can you make in your city to achieve more sustainable mobility?
