Let There Be Light

In its weekend edition, the Badische Zeitung (BZ) showed some pictures of illuminated Freiburg landmarks. Your reaction might be that this is nothing special; however, it is a new kind of lighting solely based on light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

The New Town Hall and Bertold-Schwarz-Brunnen (©BZ)

The "Green City" has long been unhappy about the amount of electricity (ab)used to illuminate its landmarks. When the Federal Ministry of Education and Research opened a contest called Cities in a new light, Freiburg submitted its master plan based solely on LED technology and was among the winners of 2 million euros.

The Münster church with its permanent scaffolding (©BZ)

The installation started at the Münster Church and eventually included the Rathausplatz (Town Hall Square) and Freiburg's two medieval gates. Although LED technology is still expensive, the savings in energy consumption compared with conventional lighting technology reach 80%. The illumination of St. Martin's Gate now consumes only 1500 watts. The city saves 21,500 euros on its electricity bill per year.

St. Martin's Gate is still without a painting (©BZ)

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