I had a thought last night. Some new cars have “matrix” headlights, which will detect oncoming drivers and use an LCD matrix to block out areas that would blind the oncoming driver.
I was looking at the shadow cast on my back door from a streetlight a couple blocks away and thinking it’s a very useful light for people walking on the street. Just not for me standing in my backyard or the birds sleeping in my trees.
I wonder if we could start applying this active matrix technology to streetlights. Each time one is set up, we could program it to illuminate all the walkways but not much else. Just an idea.
Streetlights have to be as cheap and maintainance free as possible because there are so many of them and if they break they usually need to be fixed asap. I doubt we’re ever gonna see such an intricate concept transferred to streetlights on a grand scale but maybe for fancy urban areas.
Or maybe areas like Hawaii where preventing light pollution is of critical importance? I feel like a lot of mass-produced technologies face their main hurdle at manufacturing and if early adopters fund those initial manufacturing costs, the price can then come down quite a lot. But ultimately, it’s mostly wishful thinking, how I would want the world to be, seeing the issues all around us now.
Or spectrum of light other than white? I like to use red light at night inside of our house instead of white because I’ve read it’s more relaxing and helps promote better sleep.
Yeah, that’s what they do in Hawaii currently, with amber LEDs that mimic the tone of the old sodium-vapor lamps.
It’s definitely an improvement. I would love to see both the matrix and the amber spectrum applied at the same time, that’s like peak utopia for me right there.
Doesn’t need that complex algorithm here because streetlight is static (the walkways don’t change), so all you need is just a different light design for each. Or maybe a modular source you can change while installing.
which is why it feels vaguely malicious to me that this isn’t a completely standard thing, all it would take is putting up some opaque sheets on the street lamps and having a dude go around at night to cut them so the light only shines onto the ground
for the benefit it brings it should be trivially cheap
I had a thought last night. Some new cars have “matrix” headlights, which will detect oncoming drivers and use an LCD matrix to block out areas that would blind the oncoming driver.
I was looking at the shadow cast on my back door from a streetlight a couple blocks away and thinking it’s a very useful light for people walking on the street. Just not for me standing in my backyard or the birds sleeping in my trees.
I wonder if we could start applying this active matrix technology to streetlights. Each time one is set up, we could program it to illuminate all the walkways but not much else. Just an idea.
Streetlights have to be as cheap and maintainance free as possible because there are so many of them and if they break they usually need to be fixed asap. I doubt we’re ever gonna see such an intricate concept transferred to streetlights on a grand scale but maybe for fancy urban areas.
Or maybe areas like Hawaii where preventing light pollution is of critical importance? I feel like a lot of mass-produced technologies face their main hurdle at manufacturing and if early adopters fund those initial manufacturing costs, the price can then come down quite a lot. But ultimately, it’s mostly wishful thinking, how I would want the world to be, seeing the issues all around us now.
Or spectrum of light other than white? I like to use red light at night inside of our house instead of white because I’ve read it’s more relaxing and helps promote better sleep.
Yeah, that’s what they do in Hawaii currently, with amber LEDs that mimic the tone of the old sodium-vapor lamps.
It’s definitely an improvement. I would love to see both the matrix and the amber spectrum applied at the same time, that’s like peak utopia for me right there.
Doesn’t need that complex algorithm here because streetlight is static (the walkways don’t change), so all you need is just a different light design for each. Or maybe a modular source you can change while installing.
Honestly a great idea
Don’t need an algorithm at all. Just needs what is effectively a lampshade cut to direct the light at the sidewalk and street instead of the houses.
which is why it feels vaguely malicious to me that this isn’t a completely standard thing, all it would take is putting up some opaque sheets on the street lamps and having a dude go around at night to cut them so the light only shines onto the ground
for the benefit it brings it should be trivially cheap