Energy-harvesting street lamps – Panasonic thinks green

A new kind of street lamp called a “Seagull Light” has been spotted at Panasonic’s technology center in Tokyo. These lamps generate the power required to drive them by harvesting wind and solar power. Their cost is quickly covered by the money saved on electricity bills, says Panasonic. As an added bonus, they look very stylish, especially when the wind turbine is spinning.

We think it’s great that Panasonic is developing ways to save electricity and money in such an eco-friendly way. So far it is not clear whether the new lamps will become a commercial product or not, but replacing as many traditional lights as possible with these could save many a penny on electricity bills for cities worldwide.