San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom recently unveiled the first of 1,100 solar powered bus shelters that will be installed throughout the city between now and 2013. The shelters will use the sun’s rays to power their intercom, LED lighting, and even wireless routers that will help blanket the city with WiFi. They were designed by Lundberg Design and contracted through Clear Channel Outdoor, which places ads on the shelter.
The roof is constructed from an innovative 40% post-industrial recycled polycarbonate material embedded with thin-film photovoltaic cells. The panel powers the NextMuni display that tells people when their bus is coming, a Push-To-Talk system so blind people can hear the NextMuni information, environmentally friendly light bulbs, and free Wi-Fi. The old florescent lights in the current shelters use 336 watts; the new LED panels use only 74 watts.
“Transit shelters that use photovoltaics, LEDS, and WiFi are going to be standard in the future and I’m proud that San Francisco is once again acting like the pace car for other cities by trying and implementing these technologies,” said the mayor last week.
The polycarbonate roof structure was designed by 3form Materials Solutions with photovoltaic laminates by Konarka Power Plastic. Neither company had previously implanted photovoltaic cells into a polycarbonate base, but developed a technology that realizes negligible electricity loss, and subsequently patented the process.
The SFMTA’s transit shelter advertising and maintenance contract with Clear Channel will generate at least $300 million for the SFMTA over the 20-year term of the contract, says The City.
Related Dailywireless solar articles include; Solar WiFi Park Bench, Meraki: Wall Warts and Solar Power, Cell Towers Go Green with Renewables and Emergency Communications Applications.
