Fortimo LED LLM

In its role as ‘Eindhoven, city of light’ the Eindhoven municipality wants to lead the way when it comes to innovations in public lighting. The municipality’s vision in this field is not limited to cost savings alone, but also extends to functionality, aesthetics and, above all, the effect on the environment.

Eindhoven is wasting no time in replacing all of its street lighting with energy-saving LED lighting. Until now this has, however, been difficult because of the limited application possibilities for the available LED solutions. Since the introduction of Fortimo technology – which represents a milestone in LED street lighting – LEDs can now be applied on a much wider scale. Whereas LED lighting was until recently only really suitable for narrow streets, with Fortimo it is now also possible for wider residential streets of up to 10 metres in width to be illuminated with energy-saving lighting. What’s more, the additional investment is paid back within the lamp lifetime. This means that now 50% of all street lighting in the Netherlands can be replaced with this LED lighting. “As the front runner, Eindhoven municipality wants to support this innovation and see for itself whether Philips can keep its promise,” says Arthur Noordhoek, manager / coordinator of public lighting for the municipality. “A pilot with Fortimo lighting showed that the gain makes the investment worthwhile.”

In the Ministerlaan in Eindhoven five luminaires were replaced by Residium luminaires fitted with the Fortimo LED module. This may not seem much, but according to Noordhoek it was enough: “Because we first want to let the residents in this area see what the effect is like. The difference with the existing lighting is considerable. The existing lighting bathes the area in orange-coloured light. The Fortimo, on the other hand, produces a soft white light and gives perfect colour rendering, which in turn improves social control in the area. With high-pressure sodium lamps you can recognize someone at six metres, whereas with Fortimo you can do so at eight.”

With its warm white 30 W light source, the Fortimo seems to produce just as much light as a 50 W yellow high-pressure sodium lamp, although the 50 W lamp actually produces a higher lighting level. Noordhoek: “When used in combination with a ballast, the old lamp uses 70 W. This brings about energy savings of 57% for our municipality! And that is not even taking into account the savings on lamp replacement, because with a lifetime of 50,000 burning hours, the Fortimo lasts three times longer than its predecessor.” And what about the reduction in CO2? “Once the Ministerlaan is fitted out with 51 Fortimo modules, this will save 3.5 tonnes of CO2 emissions,” says Noordhoek. “This is equivalent to saving a forest the size of a football pitch because less energy has to be generated in the first place.” In comparison with the PL-L lighting that is used in many parts of the town, this represents an energy saving of some 20%. The PL-L Koffer luminaires can be replaced directly by luminaires with Fortimo modules. The difference in terms of the light they produce is barely noticeable. This is what makes the Fortimo such a great innovation. In the future a good option for the municipality when updating and reconstructing areas of the town will be to fit Residium luminaires with the Fortimo. Noordhoek: “In ten years’ time, for example, it will be possible to replace them quickly and easily with Fortimo modules incorporating the most efficient LEDs at the time. We do, after all, intend to continue to lead the way in the future as well.”

Download PDF Casestudy Ministerlaan