MJÖLBY MUNICIPALITY

Mjölby Municipality is focusing on making its 26,600 residents feel safe and secure. Evening safety patrols have been arranged in Mjölby – giving a chance for everyone to see how the day-to-day environment is working and discuss improvements together. The municipality has also been working actively with Mjölby-Svartådalen Energi AB (MSE) to replace all mercury lighting and make its systems more energy efficient

“We didn’t want our stock to include too many different brands and models of post top luminaires. So when selecting a new luminaire, the aim was for it to be cost effective, have an appealing look and be developed by an established company with short delivery times,” says Hans Hollén, project manager electricity/lighting at MSE.

In summer 2015, Mjölby municipality decided to replace 250 luminaires with Evolume 1, which combines high light quality, long life and visual comfort with a modern design. In order to save energy without compromising the sense of security, the municipality opted for the Night-time dimming 1 function, meaning that the system’s light levels are adjusted down from 100% to 50% over six hours.

The post top luminaires are adapted for the town’s streets, car parks, pedestrian and cycle paths and merge well into the different environments. The municipality has also smartly reinvested the profit from replacing the luminaires in new systems, for example, on previously unlit pedestrian and cycle paths. 

Mercury luminaires have been replaced with LEDs on the existing posts, which means that Evolume 1 needed to cope with a slightly greater distance between posts than normal, and without glare. By using specially developed, extra-large Advanced Glare Control lenses, we were able to minimise glare. The vertical surfaces also have a well-judged brightness that creates spatial judgement and provides an increased sense of security.

“Evolume 1 uses a lens system with minimal glare”

Hans Hollén continues by saying that the project faced several lighting challenges right from the start, but they have been happily surprised by the result. One such example was the light setting in a large car park in the residential area. Instead of using floodlights, Evolume 1 was installed with six L4 lenses that emit an even light over the surface. Another location was a wide street of detached houses, where Evolume 1 with L4 lenses provided an asymmetrical, wide-beam light distribution over the whole street. The bracket with tilt-function also made installation much easier. 

One result of having the lenses sat close together to create a luminous cluster is that the luminaire is visible at a distance, making it a good guide – particularly useful on the winding forest path to Skogssjö recreation area.

“Of course, the luminaire’s most important job is to light the path, but a light indicating the route of the path ahead is a welcome benefit, and we have found that quality in Evolume 1”.