Siemens paints the world green

Flooded in green light for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, the Christ the Redeemer statue on Corcovado mountain is now a beacon of sustainability, visible for miles around.

Three-hundred high-efficiency cutting-edge light emitting diode (LED) projectors from Siemens’ Osram subsidiary illuminated the conference symbol, which is one of the new seven wonders of the world.

To mark the world-famous statue’s 80th anniversary in 2011, Osram equipped the monument with state-of-the-art lighting technology.

According to Siemens, the new LED system is reducing the energy needed to light the nearly 40-metre landmark by over 75 per cent. Solutions that combine high-efficiency lighting products with light management systems can yield energy savings of up to 80 per cent. Artificial lighting accounts for some 20 percent of world electricity consumption.

All around the United Nations conference, a large number of Siemens projects are demonstrating how technologies already available today can make humanity’s further development both sustainable and energy-efficient.
 
Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, will attract a large number of heads of state and decision makers from around the world. The conference will take place on June 20-22, 2012.
It is 20 years after the Earth Summit, the historic United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Hence, the conference name: Rio+20.

A number of recent crises including political upheavals, economic downturns and environmental disasters have helped expose a lack of sustainable thinking in many areas. Megatrends like urbanisation, globalisation and demographic change are challenging traditional models of growth and development. One objective of the Rio+20 Conference is to identify the right responses to such challenges.
 
Together with its United Nations partners and the Siemens Foundation, Siemens will have a strong presence in Rio before and during the conference, demonstrating thought leadership and a commitment to action. On June 18, Siemens presented the main conclusions of a comprehensive vision for the city of Rio de Janeiro for 2030.
 
Two members of the Siemens board, Barbara Kux and Roland Busch, will travel to Rio. Through its presence at Rio+20, Siemens will emphasize the urgent need for coordinated global action while demonstrating that highly effective solutions for more sustainable development already exist today.

“We can act now by applying these solutions in areas like transport, energy production and distribution and through higher energy efficiency in industrial processes,” said a Siemens press release.