The StreetROM smart ballasts incorporates Echelon Corporation’s LonWorks® power line communication technology, which enables cities to remotely monitor and control streetlights over the existing power line network. The StreetROM smart ballasts tap into a growing worldwide market for Adaptive Lighting Controls that apply to smart streetlight systems, which dramatically reduce energy consumption, lower operating costs, increase safety, and help beautify cities. The announcement was made today at the 2008 Light+Building event in Frankfurt, the world’s largest tradeshow dedicated to the lighting industry.

“We are pleased that ROMlight has chosen our technology for their newest line of energy saving ballasts,” said Anders Axelsson, Echelon's senior vice president of sales and marketing. “We believe that energy management applications and control networks are often one and the same, delivering a great rate of return based on energy and operational savings. Energy efficient streetlights are a fast-growing market worldwide, creating strong market demand for products like ROMlight’s smart electronic ballasts.”

Streetlights are a large consumer of energy for cities, using up to 40 percent of a city’s energy budget. Smart streetlights, which can be remotely controlled and dimmed, consistently save 30 to 50 percent on energy use and significantly reduce maintenance costs over the lifetime of the system. Installed worldwide, such systems could go a long way towards reducing energy consumption and therefore reducing carbon dioxide levels.

The new StreetROM ballast from ROMlight is the first integrated power line ballast available for smart streetlight solutions, combining Echelon’s LonWorks® power line communication technology and ROMlight’s energy efficient electronic ballast. This will lower both the cost to produce and the cost to install the ballasts. The combined cost savings make a compelling environmental, safety, and energy saving proposition, even more so for cities and municipalities who are implementing Adaptive Lighting Control solutions.

“The managed, smart streetlighting market has huge potential, now more so then ever,” said Sidney Braun, ROMlight’s president. “We believe that smart streetlighting systems are an imperative for cities and other municipalities from budgetary, environmental, and safety perspectives. ROMlight has always focused on delivering products that best suit our customers’ needs today, and into the foreseeable future. This philosophy led to our decision to use Echelon’ proven power line networking technology to deliver our customers the full benefits of smart streetlighting today, rather than hope for the ‘next big thing’ down the road.” ROMlight already has orders for demonstration units of the line of products.

The StreetROM ballast will be available for delivery in the third quarter of this year and will be priced competitively to market levels.