New Parking Lot Technology Illuminates Safety, Guides Drivers and Saves Energy Costs

Vancouver, BC, July 29, 2014 (Newswire.com) - Burnaby’s Premier Lighting conceived and patented the motion and occupancy sensor-based system currently installed in the underground parking garage at the Vancouver Central Public Library (VPL). The system is the first installation of its kind in the World. It was installed with the assistance of BC Hydro’s rebate program for Easy Park, owned by the City of Vancouver, who manages the Library’s three level underground parking garage.

“The lighting upgrade at the VPL is projected to save the City of Vancouver up to 511,000 kilowatt hours annually, or approximately $31,000 a year”, states a just released BC Hydro newsletter. “The new LED lights are dim for about 75% of the time, and are only brightly illuminated when motion is detected. This helps to makes these fixtures 85% more efficient than the ones replaced. With a life expectancy of over 10 years, they are also the most long lasting and energy efficient LEDs available. We fully expect the project will pay for itself within two years.” says Tony Holland, president of Premier Lighting.

So how small of a motion will the lights detect? "The lights illuminate to full brightness immediately upon sensing even the slightest movement," says Holland "A single step or waving your hand can turn brighten the lights” The BC Hydro newsletter goes on to say that: The illumination level is excellent, even for infrequently used corners."

Red and green indicators mounted on the aisle lights themselves, guide drivers to empty parking spaces which in turn are monitored by occupancy sensors attached to the lights. At a glance, these green/red indicators guide drivers straight to empty spaces. “This saves frustration, gasoline and exhaust emissions”, says Holland, “which in the past would have caused ventilation fans to activate more often and waste even more power”.

The information from each light and parking monitor is collected by a computer and sent out over the Internet. As each light can self-diagnose and call for repairs, emails go out to maintenance crews giving a failed light's location and the nature of the problem so they can be fixed right away. Easy Park, together with BC Hydro’s Power Smart Program, will be closely monitoring the VPL project and its cost saving features.