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Energy-efficient and cost-effective street lighting

Bayer MaterialScience tests Hella LED lights at its headquarters in Leverkusen

Enhanced traffic safety thanks to precise light guidance with polycarbonate lenses


Leverkusen – WEBWIRE
Lenses made of the transparent polycarbonate Makrolon® LED from Bayer MaterialScience ensure the LED light is focused precisely and the road is well lit.
Lenses made of the transparent polycarbonate Makrolon® LED from Bayer MaterialScience ensure the LED light is focused precisely and the road is well lit.

At its headquarters in Leverkusen, Bayer MaterialScience has replaced five conventional 150-watt street lights with state-of-the-art LED lights that each consume only 58 watts of power. This has cut energy use for lighting on this section of road by some 60 percent. Carbon dioxide emissions have been lowered by more than one ton per year. At the same time, motorists and pedestrians have no need to fear about their safety – lenses made of the transparent polycarbonate Makrolon® LED from Bayer ensure the LED light is focused precisely and the road is well lit.

The new street lights are part of the “Eco StreetLine” range developed by Hella KGaA Hueck & Co in conjunction with Bayer MaterialScience. The two companies have been collaborating for decades in automotive lighting and were able to harness the knowledge gleaned during this time in the modular design for the street lighting system. This application is just one example of the expertise that both companies have in lighting technology and that they are showcasing at the Light + Building trade fair.

In Germany alone, the annual power consumption from operating over nine million street lights is around 4,000 gigawatt hours. To help conserve resources and protect the climate, local authorities are thus being called upon to make significant cuts in energy consumption and CO2 emissions for lighting public roads and spaces.

“Simply by using energy-efficient LED technology, it is possible to reduce energy consumption by up to 70 percent compared with conventional street lights,” explains Paul Meier, head of Hella Industries. “This benefits local authority budgets and the environment alike.” The company estimates that the additional costs for an LED street light are generally recouped after less than three years. Depending on the ambient lighting conditions, the street lights can also be dimmed by as much as 50 percent, thus offering additional potential savings. The long service life of LED modules of approximately 50,000 hours also plays a role in reducing operating costs.

For these and other optical applications for LED technology, Bayer MaterialScience has developed special polycarbonate materials marketed under the name Makrolon® LED. Lenses made from this material concentrate and focus LED light in such a way that roads and footpaths are lit up brightly and drivers and pedestrians have good visibility.

“Makrolon® LED also offers considerable freedom in manufacturing complex lens shapes and remains transparent even with a thicker coating,” says Dr. Klaus Reinartz, marketing director LED at Bayer MaterialScience in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America. It boasts greater rupture strength and temperature stability than other plastics.

About Bayer MaterialScience:
With 2013 sales of EUR 11.2 billion, Bayer MaterialScience is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, electrical and electronics, construction and the sports and leisure industries. At the end of 2013, Bayer MaterialScience had 30 production sites and employed approximately 14,300 people around the globe. Bayer MaterialScience is a Bayer Group company.

This news release is available for download from the Bayer MaterialScience press server at www.press.bayerbms.com. Photos are available there for download as well. Please mind the source of the pictures.

Find more information at www.materialscience.bayer.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group or subgroup management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer’s public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.


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