MMDA to pilot test digital traffic lights starting December 31

THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said it will pilot-test a project meant to replace analog traffic lights in some select intersection in the metropolis with digital ones starting December 31 this year.

He said Metro Manila has a total of 455 major intersections, adding each intersection needs the deployment of at least one traffic enforcer.

Tolentino said with the project, they would be able to reduce manpower deployment on intersections, which they could then deploy to augment its personnel in traffic and other areas.

The agency would be able to save money, resources and manpower under the program, he said though he did not explain how much the savings would be or how much the project would cost.

But he said it would entail some funding.

"The budget is quite big. Nevertheless, the Department of Budget and Management is supporting our project. (Somehow) We have already coordinated with PLDT," he said.

The agency is looking for ways to maximize its meager resources through cooperation with local government units, other government agencies and the private sector as its budget this year was slashed by more than 50 percent compared to the 2010 allocation.

The MMDA has a budget of only P981 million this year down from last year's P2.076 billion. It originally requested a P1.5 billion funding.

On Dec. 31 at 6 p.m., analog traffic lights would shut down in some intersections in the metro to enable their substitution with digital traffic lights.

He identified some pilot intersections, such as those within the central business districts, airport and piers.

He allayed fears of a traffic problem during the shift of the digital traffic signals from the analog system, saying the agency is ready to send motorcycle-riding traffic enforcers in affected areas to fix the traffic flow.

Earlier this year, the MMDA said it is eyeing the use of solar-powered traffic lights in major thoroughfares such as the 24-kilometer long Epifanio De Los Santos Avenue.

Solar-powered traffic lights used in other countries are fitted with the latest technology in electronics. They are based on photovoltaic or PV for short with a solar panel located on the top of the pole converting sunlight into electrical power.

A solar charger regulates the voltage coming out of the solar panel. The regulated power obtained is used to charge a battery with the lighting produced by arrays of extra bright Light Emitting Diodes (LED) that are much brighter than bulbs.

Funding for the project would also require investment in the purchase of solar panels that will be installed but experts said existing conventional-powered traffic lights can be easily retrofitted to operate on solar energy.

Being Seen

Local Safe Routes to School program coordinator Kathy Zamudio is committed to the safety and well being of our kids. When I spoke to her recently, she was in the process of putting together Reflector Kid, a display for the downtown Cordova light post contest. You won't be able to miss Reflector Kid's reflector-laden outerwear when you see it, and that's pretty much the point. The Be Safe, Be Seen watchwords remind kids and adults that during these dark winter days we need to take precautions when on the roads, and drivers must be more aware of pedestrians and bicyclists.

Kathy and former Cordova resident Emily Low started the SRTS Program here in 2010 after a group of parents began investigating the national program a couple of years before that. SRTS is a federal grant program administered through the state Department of Transportation for both infrastructure and non-infrastructure strategies.

Initially, with the support of Jim Nygaard (CSD Superintendent), Linda Crider, and Karen Swartzbart, Kathy applied for and received a $5,000 planning grant to survey the community regarding the needs and desires for kids walking and biking to school.

They utilized parent and student surveys, set up information tables at the local health fair and posted community meetings to provide open discussion on safety issues. The documentation of Cordova's needs led to applying for the infrastructure and non-infrastructure grants that have been awarded.

Infrastructure upgrades, which will now be overseen by the City of Cordova in conjunction with state and local DOT requirements, will include a sidewalk on Third Street between Lake Avenue and Adams as well as crosswalks on Lake and Adams.

"There were many millions of dollars in ideas we listed," Kathy says, "but we were told by the SRTS Alaska Coordinator Steve Soenksen to start at the school and work outward." Ideally, other improvements, like the sidewalk situations from Mt. Eccles to the high school and from Mt. Eccles to the library, would be completed as well, but cost and logistics dictated the Lake Ave.–Adams route needed to be addressed first.

The crosswalk on Lake Ave., where kids cross to travel up Third St., leads to the side of Third, which is often used as a snow dump area. This makes it difficult for kids to use that side of the street. And while there is currently a crosswalk on Adams between Mt. Eccles and St. Joseph's Catholic Church, there are often cars parked in it.

Though upper grades aren't specifically included in the SRTS program, it's her hope that the safety practices younger kids learn will trickle up into the family, to older siblings and to friends, as well as be carried with kids in later years.

Winter safety is high on the safety list these days, and not just due to the darker, slicker mornings. Recently, Kathy saw a child playing on one of the huge snow piles across from the school. Kids have been told time and again not to play on snow dumps because of the instability or iciness of the snow, where they could sink in and not get themselves out, the possibility of debris having been piled up with the snow, and the danger of a plow adding to the pile without seeing a child on it.

LED lamp prices, India's lighting industry, Osram and China, Rubicon facility

IMS Research has updated its LED lamp price report, Frost & Sullivan has released a report on LED lighting industry, Osram has met with the China minister, and Rubicon has celebrated the anniversary of its Batavia sapphire production facility.

The latest analysis of global retail prices for LED lamps and luminaires from IMS Research of Austin, TX, has indicated that the most significant decline in LED lamp prices has occurred in China, with prices falling on average 62% (from $30 to $11) from September to November.

IMS is tracking the sales of 420 LED lamps in 12 countries. Worldwide, it reported no 100W replacements on the market and only 32 lamps (7%) designed as 60W and 75W incandescent replacements.

In South Korea, 26 of the 31 lamps tracked were mislabeled with regard to their wattage equivalency. In Japan, the average price of a 40W LED lamp is over $30.

LED lighting is considered the key emerging lighting segment in the Indian market, driven by the move towards energy efficiency. Local issues include those of energy deficiency in remote rural regions and strong interest in energy sustainability.

According to Frost & Sullivan Research, the LED lighting market in India was $73.3 million in 2010 and is forecast to grow at a CAGR 45.53% through 2014. The anticipated market growth will be mainly due to street lighting and railway lighting applications, which could account for over 60% of total demand next year.

The research firm has warned that the penetration of LED lighting in India largely depends on standardization, government support, awareness and affordability. India's Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) is working to address standards issues and limited awareness of energy-efficient options.

The Chinese Minister of Science and Technology, Wan Gang, met with the managing board of Osram AG recently. Discussions focused on future areas of cooperation in the LED sector.

This meeting followed an inspection of a test installation of LED applications in an art collection in Munich. Osram employs more than 10,000 staff in the Chinese market.

Rubicon Technology, based in Bensenville, IL, has celebrated the first anniversary of its sapphire crystal growth facility in Batavia, IL. The company produced its first sapphire boule at the facility last November.

The 135,000-square-foot manufacturing plant produces sapphire crystals that are in turn processed into sapphire boules and then large-diameter sapphire wafers used in LED manufacturing.

Rubicon's sapphire crystals are grown from raw materials in custom-built proprietary furnaces. To date, the company has shipped more than 200,000 six-inch sapphire wafers to the LED manufacturing and RFIC industries.

Plant cutting back on electricity

With massive generators producing electricity around the clock, Colbert Fossil Plant might be the last place many people would consider as needing to conserve electrical power.

Wanting to practice what they preach, officials and employees at the coal-burning power plant west of Tuscumbia have launched an energy-conservation program that saves enough electricity annually to power 125 homes for a year.

"For more than 20 years, TVA has given energy-saving tips and offered energy audits for homes and businesses to help them find ways to conserve electricity," said Terry Gamble, manager of Colbert Fossil Plant. "We decided we needed to also take a look at what we're doing to see how we could conserve electricity."

Some of the biggest savings have come by replacing inefficient light bulbs at the plant.

Steve Payne, maintenance supervisor at the fossil plant, said modern technology allows TVA to replace 400-watt light bulbs with 100-watt bulbs. Fluorescent lights and light-emitting diodes also have replaced incandescent lights in the plant. With around 10,000 light bulbs at the plant, switching to bulbs that consume less energy leads to substantial energy savings.

In addition to using less energy, the new bulbs produce brighter light, Payne said. Lenses on the new fixtures defuse the light more evenly than old models that used only clear glass covers.

Payne said the new lights also reduce maintenance costs at the plant. The old light bulbs required replacing every 18 months. The new bulbs can last for up to 10 years.

"We had crafts people whose job was to replace all the lamps in the plant," Gamble said. "We had so many lights that required constant replacement that they worked every day replacing lamps."

As electric motors and other devices are replaced, energy-efficient models are used, Payne said. In addition to conserving electricity, the fossil plant has taken steps to conserve water.

Gamble said the Department of Energy has helped the plant look for ways to conserve electricity and water.

The energy-efficient lights and other conservation measures have cost about $1.8 million, Gamble said. The savings on utility bills allowed TVA to recoup those costs in seven months.

Payne said that in 2009 and 2010, TVA reduced its power consumption by 17,544 megawatt hours and cut water usage by 3.7 million gallons, which saved the utility $1.04 million.

"Just because we produce electricity doesn't mean we get our utilities for free," Gamble said. "Anything we can do to use less electricity and less water improves the efficiency of our plant and the efficiency of TVA."

TVA plans to expand the energy-saving programs to its other power plants.

Gamble said most industries in the Tennessee Valley could realize similar savings by switching to energy-efficient lighting and other electrical devices.

Short-term options to meet power demand

Prudent economics and the NEPRA Act require that the strategy for meeting the demand be based on the least cost option. The cabinet has remained occupied with other matters unrelated to the development of a national power strategy. Previously, this work was handed over to Raja Pervez Ashraf, the Ex-Minister for Water and Power, who had not received even academic exposure either of planning or finance.

He was convinced by his party bosses that salvation from the energy crisis lay in acquiring the rental power plants (RPPs). Based on the assurances held out by the power generating companies and the officials of his own Ministry, he announced an impractical deadline for the end of loadshedding. In the same vein, based on his assurance, the Prime Minister announced the date for the end of loadshedding in the National Assembly. In inviting bids for RPPs and finalisation of contracts, all caution and prudence was thrown to the winds. The defective contracts have caused huge financial loss to the country, which is now under scrutiny by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The crisis highlights the need to take an integrated look at the energy sector given that the current crisis, to a large extent, is a fuel crisis caused by unexpected and unmitigated increase in the Residual Fuel Oil (RFO) prices and delays in ?nding a substitute for the depleting domestic gas supplies.

The shortage of gas forces the power generating units to increasingly depend on furnace oil. Its use lowers the efficiency and capacity of plants designed to run on gas. Moreover, the high cost of imported furnace oil, and the resultant increase in per unit cost billed to the consumer, has caused huge unrest in the country. The government, however, remains unmoved by the resentment and is determined to force further price increases down the throat of hapless consumers.

Any increase in energy cost and fuels inflation renders Pakistani goods non-competitive in the international market. Due to poor governance, inefficiency and mismanagement, it has not been possible for the Ministry of Water and Power to launch programmes for improving energy efficiency and loss reduction programmes that have the least incremental cost, but have failed to receive the same priority as new supply side initiatives.

The energy saved by the proposed Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) programme would reduce generation demand by over 1,280MW countrywide and 1,133MW in the PEPCO system. It is lying in cold storage for reasons that are unconvincing, even to those advancing them.

Presently, a number of plants are not contributing power supplies, due to a range of issues such as contractual and administrative reasons and shortage of gas supplies from the national gas grid. If the above issues are resolved, the involved plants could provide 997MW of power to the system.

The entire gas policy needs to be reviewed. The combined cycle power plants already established offer one of the least cost solutions. The plants may shut down due to their inability to use expensive high speed diesel, resulting in a loss of 850MW of power.

There is an ongoing programme for reducing transmission and distribution losses. The USAID, World Bank and ADB have made funds available for energy improvement projects, as well as to rehabilitate the Genco plants and improve their efficiencies. These programmes need to be given very high priority, as they are least cost solutions for meeting power and energy demand.