What is Digg?137 Comments
- RobotFood83, on 08/02/2008, -11/+185I was halfway expecting a lolcat.
- hinmanj, on 08/02/2008, -5/+150#1: That looks easily stolen by anyone.
#2: It probably costs way too much.
#3: @skewl (the guy above this comment), thanks for copy pasta from the article. =/ - bluegene, on 08/03/2008, -0/+136Invisible streetlight is not really invisible
- knucklebusted, on 08/02/2008, -2/+42I don't think it can possible provide as much illumination as a regular street light. The solar lights are pretty sad in light output.
- farfromsubtl, on 08/03/2008, -1/+30I would most certainly steal these whilst partaking in a gentleman's evening of drinking.
- leetninja, on 08/03/2008, -4/+32i could have read that in the article but thanks for copy and pasting it in a comment ... toolbag
- gavintlgold, on 08/03/2008, -0/+26Oh, so you think you can just call up the sun any old night when you need him? He's got appointments with China, ya know.
- NatrlSelection, on 08/03/2008, -0/+24Yes, easy for people to steal and put into their homes
- PaulOwen, on 08/03/2008, -0/+23I was expecting the Spanish Inquisition.
- sishgupta, on 08/02/2008, -4/+23I was completely expecting a lolcat.
- FamilyGuy, on 08/03/2008, -0/+17Definitely not going to work. Factors like wind, tree growth, theft, there's just too much involved for this to work. Nice idea nonetheless!
- CameronConnor, on 08/03/2008, -0/+17By streetlight they dont mean stoplight.
- DragonForce4, on 08/03/2008, -4/+18In Soviet Russia, lolcat expects you!
- inactive, on 08/03/2008, -2/+15seems like an inefficient way to light up a street!
- ebcreasoner, on 08/03/2008, -1/+13I was expecting to ***** bricks myself.
- SomeoneGNU, on 08/03/2008, -0/+11Very true - and the amount of those needed to provide the equivalent light of a non-eco friendly light will easily cost more than the electricity bill twice over.
Eco-friendly, maybe. Tax-friendly, no way.
Now for a homeowner trying to light up a path in their back yard it'd be an awesome setup, I think. - energyblue, on 08/03/2008, -2/+11NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition.
- sassafras1232, on 08/03/2008, -0/+9Have you used a modern LED flashlight? A single 3-watt LED hurts to look at from 20' away. A cluster of 100 or so would be more than bright enough to light up a street.
The only thing I don't think would really work would be the tops of the "leaves" absorbing enough energy during the day to power the light all night. After all, it's going to be under a tree's canopy, photovoltaics are not that efficient, batteries would be heavy, etc... - lolwtfhaha, on 08/03/2008, -0/+9What would be REALLY cool is if this thing just stabbed into the tree and through some electro-chemical reaction was able suck the life force out of the tree to generate electricity for the lights. Sorta like a giant potato.
- infoclipper, on 08/02/2008, -5/+13Especially with only four low-profile LED "leaves", this will barely put out the same light as a flashlight. Plus, given that in the mock-ups, its just a stick pushed through the leaves, not only do you have to worry about theft (which looks to be easily done), but strong winds could also dislodge the lights.
All and all, dugg for an interesting concept, but I don't think its going to make sense with the tech available in the near future. - DesdinovaEL, on 08/03/2008, -0/+8What if there arent trees lining the street?
- zombo, on 08/03/2008, -0/+8get planting.
- Takuro, on 08/03/2008, -0/+8Looks innovative and cool, but not very practical.
First off: The civic works department of any town / city, as you can probably already tell, is usually under budget and they will tend to use the cheapest, most effective looking piece of machinery that gets the job done. There's no way they are going to cut into their budget to install some fancy-pants, artsy, solar luminescent, leaf-shaped appendages into their current system.
Secondly: The output of solar lamps, as many people previously stated, is pretty poor. The majority of solar technologies in the market that are affordable for a large scale project like this just wouldn't compare to conventional street lights. I'm sure you can look up information on some up-and-coming technologies that have a better efficiency rating, but they aren't affordable right now.
Third: The idea of installing a crucial system of lights, which commuters will depend on every single day in all types of weather, on trees is a very... very... bad idea. Tree branches are nowhere nearly as endurable as a dedicated metal pole for each supported light. In the winter, they can be obscured by snowfall. In storms, they can easily be knocked down. Also, it's important to have a level of uniformity within the positioning of each light source, which tree-mounted lights might not be able to provide. With conventional poles, there's a lot more control in the spacing of each light from a civil engineering perspective.
So, I think this a cool idea, and I can definitely see a new, more efficient system replacing the current conventional streetlight system in a few decades, but I don't think this idea in particular is too viable. - myhandleondigg, on 08/03/2008, -0/+8I could see this catching on in a place like Disney's Celebration.
- boydrew, on 08/03/2008, -0/+7great commercial potential. target market is just wrong. go for people looking to light up their decks, backyards, or pool area or something. theft is still an issue (but resolvable). people already buy solar powered lights that go along a walkway, i bet they'd eat these up!
- Dotcommer, on 08/03/2008, -1/+8no it wasn't.
- onwardknave, on 08/03/2008, -1/+8Welcome to the internet!
- h4mx0r, on 08/03/2008, -1/+8I was sort of expecting a lolcat.
- NewBrunswickMan, on 07/12/2009, -1/+8lolcat was expecting us
- hatchetbearer, on 08/03/2008, -3/+9in 9 years when you turn 21
- wazzledoozle2, on 08/03/2008, -2/+8Bad idea, branches fall off trees.
Using the base of a tree for the main post could work though. - hackysackmaster, on 08/03/2008, -0/+6not to mention most streets dont have trees..
- UntouchableC, on 08/03/2008, -0/+5I dunno, it's a turn of phrase.
- razz8806, on 08/03/2008, -0/+5I was expecting a sad comment string like this one.
- gavintlgold, on 08/03/2008, -1/+6It's really funny, I first read it as STOPlight too...
- person425, on 08/03/2008, -0/+5With modern solar technology, assuming you are willing to pay for top of the line gear, it is going to be able to emit *maybe* 5% of the light that it takes in over the course of a day. That means that the light is either super dim, or it burns out quickly. Not even to mention how much sunlight is already blocked by the rest of the tree.
In reality, for each light that you want to charge you will probably need solar panels at least 30 times that size. In winter it would be much harder due to a combination of less sunlight and longer nights. - blueshift7, on 08/03/2008, -3/+8I think most of us weren't expecting a lolcat.
- tidu, on 08/03/2008, -1/+5Why not just make a normal street light that runs off solar? I never found street lights obtrusive or ugly. They're just... there.
- SugarCoatedSalt, on 08/03/2008, -1/+5bad idea, people would steal this *****.
- wannapiece, on 08/03/2008, -1/+5That makes so much sense... Lets place something intended to be permanent on something as fragile and temporary as a twig
- inactive, on 08/03/2008, -0/+4It looks cool to put in my backyard but if you put those things on the streets then it would only last a couple of days until someone steals them for the copper in the wires.
- LoudMusic, on 08/03/2008, -0/+4"This light function just like other street light - give what we need most at night."
Sleep?
Somehow sticking a light source in a tree that is GROWING seems, I dunno, not very efficient. How long before the tree destroys, moves, redirects, or blocks the light? And that's if it stays in the tree.
I really wonder sometimes if artists think their ideas through before publishing them. - ahawks, on 08/03/2008, -0/+4Christmas lights burn so much electricity it's not even funny.. I don't think that counts as eco friendly.
- synystar, on 08/03/2008, -0/+4I was gonna say... I mean, I can totally see it.
- Myztry, on 08/03/2008, -0/+3Not really. It may use low power LED's but the light isn't directed downward.
There's as much light going towards lighting the sky as the ground. - kennyROAR, on 08/03/2008, -1/+4how do you haflway expect something?
- Halsfield, on 08/03/2008, -0/+3its a good idea to make street lights less of an eyesore, but this particular fix to that problem needs some work. the tech is available to make something like this less-easy to steal, brighter, and cost efficient, but this isnt quite there yet.
- celotil, on 08/03/2008, -0/+3Uh, no. If you look around the net you'll find several pictures of trees that have been used to support things like lights and the tree tends to simply grow around them.
There's even a big tree I pass every day on my way to and from work that was used as a christmas light decoration years ago, and if you look carefully you can trace the power cords under the bark, like veins. The lights also still work, so the tree hasn't interfered with the lights, nor have the lights stopped the tree from growing huge and lush. - lamiaconfitor, on 08/03/2008, -0/+3In news today, drunk college students stop stealing road signs and start stealing Leaf Lights. Twelve inebriated college students have been taken to the hospital this week alone due to injuries sustained while climbing trees.
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