Life Alternate » Christmas

Siemens Christmas Star Shines over Munich

Wispa — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 07:24:21 +0000

If your driving up the A9 Autobahn you might see a bright piece of artwork lighting up the sky this December.

Siemens have adorned a giant wind turbine in highly efficient LED’s that creates a spectacular display for the holiday season. Each blade of the wind turbine has 1000 Light Emitting Diodes glued on with space glue. That is 3000 of those lights in total and the system will use as much energy as a hair dryer.

The Christmas star has a width of 70 meters and can be seen from distances of up to 30 kilometres around Munich. If you want to catch sight of the display it will be shining in the evenings from 4.40 pm until midnight and for those early risers between 5 and 8 am. This only lasts until the 6 of January 2010 when the artwork is scheduled to end.

The YouTube video from Siemens contains a lot of corporate happy talk but explains the ideas behind the display. The one below shows the LED’s in action.

Solar Wind Chimes for a Christmas Gift

Wispa — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:38:17 +0000

A certain holiday season is fast approaching and even here at Life Alternate we have put the website decorations up. Gifts are on our minds and while it is the season for giving that does not mean we should not give at any time of the year.

Wind Chimes have been around since Neolithic man strung a few bones over a tree branch outside his homely cave. Today they are still popular and nicely fit in to the category of being powered by renewable energy. The gently wind breeze powers our chimes and lets us enjoy a few moments of natural sounds completely off the grid.

The stone age has long gone and modern technology has cast its eyes on our wind chimes. Solar energy in the form of a small photovoltaic solar panel mounted on top of the chimes draws the renewable energy from the sun to power efficient LED lighting that adds an extra dimension to out chimes. As well as tinkling soft sounds, we can enjoy the flickering glows of light as the wind sways the chimes.

This is a great modern combination of light and sound that will last much longer than the Christmas turkey and we have still been eating our in February.

Think of a person who truly appreciated the idea of saving the planet and this is the idea that has special meaning. That person can also be you!. But whoever you are giving gift too, something that has a touch of environmentally friendliness about it would would have a much deeper meaning than a pair of socks.

Solar Powered Christmas Lights

Wispa — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:40:22 +0000

With the festive season approaching and your planning begins, it might be a good idea to have a think about those old fairy lights and consider Solar Powered Christmas Lights instead.

The combination of two modern technologies, Solar Energy which is always free and LED Lighting which are very energy efficient compared to traditional incandescent light bulbs make Solar Lighting the natural frontrunner when choosing new decorations. The added aspect of being much more safe then normal lighting allows your Christmas artwork to be used in many more locations and being solar powered there is little need to find suitable electrical outlets nearby.

Light Emitting Diode, LED, lighting is a new technology, but its not some fad that is going to disappear in a few years. Already we have LED Television Screens and signage in the form of traffic lights, car indicators and light bulbs for the home. Decorative lighting is a natural step to take. While your neighbours are blowing fuses trying to keep their holiday lighting shining you can show your displays using the low energy LED Lighting without the fear of causing any power failures or very costly energy bills.

Multi-coloured, flashing, strings, ropes, displays, intact all the traditional Christmas lighting can be had with LED and more. Combined with solar power, some designs can power themselves through the holiday season and you do not even have to throw a switch.

Either light sensitive switches turn the lights on when darkness arrives or they can be timed to turn on and off are whatever hour you desire. Charging themselves up through the daytime on solar energy the efficient LED can last the whole night giving off bright displays.

Having trees or bushes in the garden means your can literally throw a string of lights over your foliage, orientate the small solar panel towards the sun, turn on and forget all about them. When darkness comes your garden will illuminate while next door your neighbours are still trying to find a electrical cable to stretch down to the garden gate.

For indoor Christmas decoration solar powered led lighting is still suitable but here we need to make sure the solar panel is placed suitably near a window. Hanging ropes of lights around the window frame would be the ideal situation but if you wish to decorate your tree or hearth on the other side of the room then solar power may not be ideally suitable. You can still use the energy efficient LED lighting but this would mean having them powered by a mains wall outlet. Well it is the holiday season and its a time for forgiving so using a little energy is better then using a lots.

Brighten up your Christmas with LED lighting and remember these low power lights are much safer and this is especially important at this happy time of the year.

There is a saying that a puppy is not just for Christmas, well we can say the same about Solar Powered Christmas LED lighting, While your flashing reindeer may not be suitable for all year, your other lights can be used for parties or just for having a nice garden display. Strings or lanterns along paths or on tables can add a nice effect to summer evenings. Solar energy is around all year and shouldn’t you also have the pleasure of energy free lighting whenever you want. You can.