London Tower Bridge Gets LED Makeover

London Tower Bridge Gets LED Makeover

Landmarks often dress up for special occasions – anniversaries, awareness months, or the launch of a new project.  When these landmarks ‘dress up’ it often involves lights, and recently, those lights have been LED.

On May 30, the mayor of London officiated the turning on of the lights to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.  London’s Tower Bridge has been strung with 6,500-square feet of linear LED lights, 1,800 LED lamps and 1,000 junction boxes with 16,500 feet of cable.

The new lights are by GE architectural LED systems replace a 25-year-old legacy system and will stay in place for the next 25 years.  The new Tower Bridge lights will be 40% more energy-efficient than the system it has replaced.  The project was completed by a French firm responsible for illuminating other world landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and Valley of the Kings.

The GE LED technology allows designers to blend many shades of colors of variable intensity.  The lights can be “heat formed” to fit various architectural needs – such as enhancing the Victorian gothic turrets, stone towers and walkways of the 117-year-old Tower Bridge.

GE is a sponsor of the 2012 Olympic Games – set for London later this summer.  GE’s support of the games will include uninterrupted power generators for the main Olympic stadium and advanced medical diagnostic equipment as well as a large number of charging stations for a fleet of Olympic electric vehicles.  The Tower Bridge will also be supporting the Olympics, as it sports the Olympic rings and Paralympic Games agitos symbols during the 45-day duration of each event.

http://www.scientificcomputing.com/news-DS-Tower-Bridge-Dons-Diamond-Coat-for-Queens-Jubilee-060112.aspx