He was reading an article on the impact of climate change on a late night flight to London in 2010, when looking outside he saw thousands of street lamps burning in empty streets. Amazed by this waste of energy, Chintan Shah (33) decided to do some research and found that each year streetlights in Europe generate as much greenhouse gas as 20 million cars and that Europe pays over €10 billion euros each year to power streetlights. Struck by these figures, his mechanical engineering mind was triggered and he decided to find a solution to this huge energy waste.
“My dream was to make streetlights that dim when no one is around and light up when a person passes. I wanted to make street lighting that follows a person like Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk.”
Chintan Shah,CEO
There are six times more light points than human beings in the world. Imagine if you could monitor & control these lights. Streetlights are everywhere, if you can connect them and add intelligence, they can be a platform for smart cities. Imagine an ambulance that can communicate with the traffic lights and turn them green as it passes. It can save lives! You can add intelligence such as environmental sensing to streetlights.
By Virendya Battja
First published on September 25, 2015
From: http://startupdelta.org/news/StartupDelta-Advisor-Chintan-Shah-Don-t-Wait-for-Perfection