Solar-powered LED streetlights trialed in China

Solar-powered LED streetlights. Talk about a clean tech merger of concepts.

North Carolina's Cree is working with Multi-Cell Semiconductor to install solar-powered streetlights in Guangzhou, China. The streetlights will run on the Cree's XR-E LEDs, which provide 70 lumens per watt. Cree says these relatively new LEDs are more energy-efficient than compact fluorescent lamps and way better than conventional lights when it comes to saving energy.

The solar panels of Multi-Cell's streetlights sit on top of the streetlamp.

The project starts out with only 20 streetlamps, but don't forget, this is China. If this works and cuts down energy consumption, the government can hit the gas pedal on mass adoption.

While Cree makes LEDs for all sorts of markets, it seems to like the public lighting one a lot. It recently helped Raleigh, N.C., replace the lamps in a municipal garage with LED lights. Raleigh is now considering replacing more city lights with LEDs.

China, as you probably know, needs to conserve on energy. The coal-burning plants are causing massive health problems for the country's citizens, and the government is grappling with political upheavals over environmental degradation and land use.