Major Tokyo Train Station Slashes Energy Use With LED Technology

Universal Lighting Technologies, Nashville, TN

With the help of Panasonic LED and OLED lighting fixtures, the Japanese Ministry of the Environment is slashing overall energy use at a public station by 25 percent, with a 40-percent reduction in lighting energy alone. It’s all part of a pilot community development program called the Smart Station Project taking place at Jiyugaoka Station in Tokyo.

Tokyu Corporation operates the extraordinarily busy Jiyugaoka Station and proposed the energy-saving retrofit project as part of the “Challenge 25” Initiative by the Ministry of the Environment. Once the plan was approved by the Japanese government, Tokyu installed 29 OLED fixtures and 1,174 LED fixtures provided by Panasonic Corp. Eco Solutions Company, which also supplied a power monitoring system to record and adjust energy use as needed in the future.

This project represents the first use of organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology in a train station in Japan for general lighting purposes. Of the 29 OLED lighting fixtures at Jiyugaoka Station, 19 are installed at the ticket gate office and ten in the train pass office. These fixtures incorporate 275 Panasonic OLED lighting modules, which can reduce energy use by up to 85 percent compared to mini-halogen fixtures and operate up to ten times as long as an ordinary incandescent lamp (approximately 10,000 hours).

The station’s LED lighting fixtures are designed to change color temperature throughout the day, which not only saves energy but increases visual comfort for station visitors and employees. Both photocells and infrared occupancy sensors are installed to ensure ideal color temperature levels based on natural light and the number of occupants at the station. Of the 1,174 LED lighting fixtures at Jiyugaoka Station, 494 are on the platform, 238 are in the concourse, 290 are in the station office and bathroom, and 152 are in the travel center. According to the Ministry of the Environment, cutting energy consumption 25 percent at Jiyugaoka Station will reduce CO₂ emissions in Tokyo by 131 tons each year.