Light pollution and the growing energy consumption of street lights is increasingly having a drastic impact on our planet, on animals, plants and humans. PAPILIO is a street lamp with an insect-friendly light spectrum, that tackles light pollution while at the same time generating energy by using an integrated wind rotor. The climate-neutral energy production becomes an aesthetic play, enriching the public space – both during the day and at night.

The higher we build our cities, the more windy they become. On the one hand, rising air masses above the heat storing cities, physical wind phenomena like the Venturi effect and climate change in general are enforcing the wind intensity in urban surroundings. On the other hand, humans also actively generate more and more wind - for example by traffic in narrow street canyons or subway shafts. There is a growing potential for using wind power, particularly in city streets. At the same time, the harmful anthropogenic influences on our planet are increasing ever more - especially in densely populated areas. A problem that has hitherto often been neglected in this context is light pollution. Every year the worldwide amount of artificial light is growing by 6 percent, while 83 percent of the world's population already suffer from an unnaturally bright night sky. Due to studies, more than 44% of the Germans under 30 years have never seen the Milky Ways in their lives before.

PAPILIO is reducing the ecological footprint of street lighting many times over by generating electricity with an integrated wind generator while at the same time minimizing light pollution. An integrated Savonius rotor, for which the wind direction is irrelevant, is used to produce climate neutral energy. Due to its diagonal orientation, the rotor works with vertical (natural wind) as well as horizontal air streams (e.g. airflow caused by traffic). A rechargeable battery stores the generated electricity, bridging periods of calm. This makes it possible to operate PAPILIO completely autonomously without a necessity for expensive underground electricity infrastructure. Alternatively, the product can also be connected to an existing power grid in order to feed surplus energy into the network during strong winds. In order to minimize light pollution, the product is designed as a “full-cut-off" light, only emitting light downwards.