Dragons’ Den contestant’s idea to save street lighting cash
Monday 13th December 2010, 8:00PM GMT.
A Dragons’ Den contestant who hails from south Shropshire claims councils could save thousands of pounds in street lighting costs without having to switch them off at night.
Vernon Kerswell, 22, an inventor and former Church Stretton School student, says photovoltaic cells and wind turbines could be placed on top of street lamps to power lights at a fraction of the existing cost.
He has been inspired after seeing similar lamps spring up across cities in China, where he has been promoting his gadgets and toys.
Mr Kerswell, whose family live at Picklescott, near Church Stretton, said he was keen to speak to Shropshire Council about the idea.
Shirehall staff have launched a pilot project to switch off street lights overnight in Church Stretton, Cleobury Mortimer and Ellesmere to make savings.
He said: “I’ve been looking at this for the past two-and-a-half years and while I was in China running my toy business I saw hybrid solar and wind panels. It’s extremely cost-effective and low maintenance.”
It is believed the project could save Shropshire Council up to £70,000 a year.
Shropshire Council spokesman Simon Alton said: “Shropshire Council is committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 35 per cent over the next four years and we are happy to look at the viability of any proposals to help achieve this.”
Mr Kerswell appeared on Dragons’ Den last year.
He sought £75,000 of investment in exchange for 15 per cent equity in his business Extreme Fliers Toys.
But the entrepreneur left empty-handed after his pitch was derailed by problems over the patenting of his products – twin-rotor remote-controlled helicopter toys.
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whats the price of a mini solar panel? Its about £10,000 just for a domestic roof and that wont produce enough electricity for one house, I would estimate based on farm based systems I’ve seen its probably about £500 per unit, with installation double that, for the thousands of traffic lights and street lamps in shropshire it would be millions of pounds, as opposed to turning off lamps when they’re not needed which is, wait for it free?
which is the best return then mr business brain?? perhaps this is why he didnt get any money out of the dragons – genius
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Dear Adam, I agree – this can only become commercially viable with the manufacturing cost of the PV cells and installation, the factory we are cooperating with can produce at a fraction of the cost of prices you see in England.
We will present the financial forecasts to look if this is viable.
Best regards,
Vernon
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renewable energy doesnt SAVE money son, it eats money, even when its subsidised to the hilt its just not economic, the idea of photovoltaics powering our lives is still twenty years away, the technology as is, uses more energy and produces more carbon to make the cells and will never pay for itself over the life time of the panels without massive government subsidy
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the problem with the condem cuts is that sensible savings suggestions like this cannot be implemented due to cuts in the capital budgets, thats the problem, you have to spend money to make (or save) money – this is a case in point, spend now on solar panels and save later on having no electricity bills
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So why not present us some figures then?
According to the Shropshire council website they are responsible for 15600 street lights.
If the council can save £70k a year then how much would it cost to upgrade each light?
Even if the cost were £100 per light then the cost to upgrade would be £1.5 million. Therefore taking over 22 years to make the savings back…. quite a long return on investment really. And lets be honest, the cost to upgrade per light (including labour) would be much more than £100!
As for reducing carbon emissions, they would be increased anyway by the time vehicles have been driven to site for site surveys, installation, manufacturing the product and transporting it to Shropshire.
I’m not knocking people having ideas but at least present some figures to save us all guessing!!!
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sounds like mr kerswell does not have a clue about business
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What a ridiculous claim, Is Kerswell really trying to claim that retro-fitting wind turbines and solar panels to the existing thousands of lights is going to be cheaper than simply turning then off?
Having just watched his episode on Dragons Den it appears that a year on he still hasn’t learnt anything about business. I also cant help but think that the Dragons were being overly nice (and perhaps a little patronising) simply because of his age.
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a ready made unit exists off the shelf for just this. Its called the green column and its a uk company. it looks excellent – see link – http://www.orionairsales.co.uk/the-green-column-wind-turbine-and-outdoor-solar-lighting-system-890-p.asp
However the problem is the cost, these units
£2,890!!!! each
If as the commentor above says there are 15,600 such lights in shropshire I make that £45 million pounds needed
Looks like this wont happen then
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How’s about making sure ALL streetlights only shine downwards and not waste all the other upwards light – as pollution. Would be a good starter without any cleverness involved.
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Definetely concure on this one.
It’s horrific to see the amount of light pollution coming from Shrewsbury, Telford, Bridgnorth etc. From the countryside the glow honestly looks like a false dawn. Bring back our dark skies.
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how can anything be cheaper than turning it off, its free and uses no energy and therefore no money
simples
prevention is better than cure
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Money, money, money how life revolve’s around it… This has got to do with the environment, the planet we live on, looking after it. Until we over come the monetary system we use we don’t have a hope of getting rid of the carbon issue. This falls to space travell also, it’s holding our development back and will continue to do so. What we need is time travel, go back 2000 years and shoot the person who had the cleaver thought of using a monetary system.
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Let’s be honest, if this chap hadn’t turned up on some tv show the newspaper wouldn’t have given him column inches unless of course he was willing to pay for it.
If you want an energy producing idea, why not put turbines on top of all the pylons; and an even better one, why don’t they fit pv panels to all that wasted surface area of the masts of wind turbines then if the wind isn’t blowing the sunlight will create energy, so if it’s a sunny windy day it’s bingo :-)
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Two flawed ideas…
Wind turbines won’t go on existing pylons as they aren’t strong enough
PV panels won’t go on the wind turbine masts as the masts are cylindrical (slightly conical) and vertical and the efficiency of the panels would not generate a sufficient return on the investment of installing them.
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Dragons’ Den contestant’s idea?
But it’s already been done in China, so surely it’s someone else’s idea.
His idea is simply to do it in Shropshire.
But he’s forgotten that when they do it in China, it’s part of the capital cost of the infrastructure, incorporated during the construction phase, not bolted on afterwards using the services of expensive facilities management companies such as those currently in charge of maintaining street lighting on behalf of the councils.
Turn the lights off – let’s live in darkness at night-time, just like 98% of China does in rural areas.
I’m out!
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Well sounds good but as many have pointed out costings may show that indeed simply turning the lights off is the best option….may be not so much in rural areas but on major roads there should be no need for so much lighting…
Lets face it we dont have many motorways in shropshire, as you will all know as the M54 moving into shropshire no lights, clearly we are made of better stuff then the West Midlanders who have needless miles of lights burning away..it’s a joke, but not of course not to the manufacturers or the power supply companies…mostly foreign owned of course..
Car lighting has improved a lot in the last 20 years, if you cant see where your going with the lights on your car…then you shouldnt really be behind the wheel of a car, trunk, bus etc. It not Rocket Science its common sense !
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Spot on.
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the last thing this country needs is more wind turbines, they are ugly, built and owned by foreign firms, generate negligable energy, attract massive subsidies and despoil the landscape, i am appauled that some one from church stretton of all places in the AONB would suggest these ghastly turbines get built here, no thanks
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