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04/12/2025
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that in “sleepless” cities, people often suffer from vision problems, headaches, dizziness, even insomnia, poor appetite, depression, physical weakness, etc. The cause is light pollution.
Currently, on some roads, especially alleys in Ho Chi Minh City, the use of many fluorescent and halogen lamps with lengths from 0.6 – 1.2 m to illuminate the streets is still quite common.
Because the lamp housing is made of aluminum, they cannot prevent the glare from light sources. Along with that, the lighting on many roads here is installed improperly, the light is so strong that it penetrates into people’s homes; some lights are even too bright due to very high voltage, which is dangerous for passersby (eye glare, dizziness…).
In reality, in many residential areas, it can be seen that the lighting system is accompanied by old lampshades that do not follow any standards. The distance between the lamps is also arbitrary and uneven, sometimes installed right on the balcony of a household…
According to the definition of scientists, light pollution is the improper or excessive use of artificial light, causing glare, reducing night vision, affecting human health and the natural ecological environment. In Vietnam, light pollution is very common in big cities and tends to increase rapidly in urban areas, leaving negative impacts on social life.
Light is polluted from many light sources such as traffic lights, store signs, large billboards, decorative lights, lights from vehicles…
In many cases, the lighting of the lighting system and billboards causes glare to passersby. Many areas in large cities in the country have been abusing the use of artificial light at night, causing light pollution which is a dangerous “killer” that is silently affecting health and life.
Smart urban lighting solutions, green lighting conversion towards Net Zero to help create more livable urban spaces for all residents.
Because when applying smart lighting systems, it can reduce up to 30% of accidents, reduce crime rates by 20%, improve traffic and pedestrian safety; reduce up to 80% of CO2 emissions; monitor and promptly resolve problems from people; secure managers’ data from the risk of unauthorized access…
Recently, Signify Vietnam Company (part of the Dutch Signify Group, renamed from Philips Lightings previously), the world’s leading group in the field of lighting and smart city solutions, announced the project “Green lighting transformation towards Net Zero”.
The project has the participation and coordination of the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Ho Chi Minh City, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City, the Netherlands Business Association in Vietnam and the Tuoi Tre newspaper of Ho Chi Minh City with the aim of overcoming these shortcomings and contributing to the goal of developing green, sustainable urban areas, achieving the commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 according to Vietnam’s commitment at COP26.
The project consists of two phases. The first phase is open to all participants, from students, civil servants, experts, engineers, citizens… Entries can be ideas or designs presented in the form of articles, graphics, images, videos sharing solutions for reasonable use of light, energy saving, and emission reduction in Ho Chi Minh City.
The results will be announced at the Signify Innovation Day 2024 event taking place in November 2024. The organizing committee will select the best initiatives to send to the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee and relevant departments and agencies, together building Ho Chi Minh City into a green city in the future.
The solutions and applications that Signify brings to Vietnamese cities, including Ho Chi Minh City – the most populous megacity in the country and “living with traffic jams and dust” due to the volume of vehicles participating in traffic – is “Interact City”.
Interact City – is a smart lighting ecosystem, using IoT (Internet of Things) technology to build a modern and advanced lighting management system for cities, urban areas, and community residential areas.
In addition to controlling and optimizing the brightness and lighting time of street lights, Interact City also develops new features such as traffic warnings, parking management and environmental monitoring thanks to the integration of sensors.
Mr. Khue
