A Big Idea!
Leadsun was invited to partner with City of Melbourne’s Industrial Design Team to create a modern, innovative and sustainable outdoor sculpture by converging Leadsun’s proprietary ‘All-In-One’ Solar + Battery + LED technologies into a spectacular tree-like sculpture that also demonstrates that we can power and light out cities with solar energy.
The Solar Tree is a big idea by Leadsun to help demonstrate City of Melbourne’s ambitious target to become carbon neutral.
The tree provides the community with a place to rest, recharge their mobile devices whilst promoting a positive social impact ensuring our public spaces are Smarter, Sustainable and Safer by harnessing the sun’s energy in a practical and functional way.
Did you know that although cities only cover 2% of earth’s landmass, they use nearly 80% of earth’s primary energy sources? Further to this, the biggest contributor to a municipality’s source of carbon emissions is from grid-connected public lighting infrastructure.
While our cities transition to renewable energy to replace existing fossil fuel electricity, the Solar Tree demonstrates the importance that collectively we must take simple steps to reduce our energy usage, not just in our homes and businesses but also in open public areas that require public lighting.
Honouring indigenous natural heritage
The Solar Tree isn’t just about technology, it’s also about sustainability and honouring the traditional and distinct nature of our municipality’s natural heritage by using reclaimed indigenous timber for the circular wooden seat located at its trunk.
The indigenous timber is selected by the local government and then hand-crafted and treated to look vibrant and elegant. It’s an important design element of the Solar Tree as it brings together both ‘nature & technology’ and the ‘past & the future’ all into one unique functional system.
Convenient meeting hub
The Solar Tree is a great landmark and place to meet. With the timber seat able to accommodate three people, the Solar Tree has a convenient three-way built-in USB charger at it’s trunk inviting users and visitors to sit under the solar panels and charge their smart devices 24 hours a day for free!
Technical Specifications
The Solar Tree utilises Leadsun’s innovative and proprietary ‘All-In-One’ solar-powered energy systems. The entire system features a combination of three 80W ‘Solar-Engines’ that collects and captures energy from the sun into the built-in Lithium-Ion batteries to then power the LED lights & USB chargers.
The energy produced from the Solar Engines is then distributed through its branches into ultra-efficient LED lighting fixtures featuring a motion-sensor and dimming capabilities. The Solar Tree provides a beacon of light throughout the evening for safety, whilst demonstrating new-energy technologies through it’s USB charging station located at it’s base.
See it Live
The Solar Tree provides the perfect opportunity for municipalities to uniquely demonstrate their ambition for social & environmental leadership to the public as well showcasing new-energy technologies into public spaces & pop-up parks powered by the limitless energy of the sun.
Experience the power for yourself and charge your phone in safety under the lights of the Solar Tree located in the beautiful grounds of Birrarung Marr. The lights illuminate the granite sand and provides a warm inviting glow for the community to use the Solar Tree in the evening.
