FEATURE

Montréal's Magic LED Lanterns

Montréal's Magic LED Lanterns

By Matthew Sedlar
September 30, 2009

As sunset approaches in Montréal's Botanical Garden, you can tell something special is about to happen. Photographers and sightseers gather on the platform overlooking Dream Lake in the park's Chinese Garden. A nearby cart sells hot jasmine tea and bread to the crowd, and music played on an ehru, or Chinese violin, can be heard drifting out of the garden's Friendship Hall. As soon as night falls, it's clear why the area has drawn such a large crowd: Hundreds of lanterns, from small traditional cases to large themed floats, illuminate the garden and lake. It's all part of the Magic of Lanterns, an annual festival at the Botanical Garden that runs from September to the beginning of November.

The sight of 700 traditional lanterns and the large themed lanterns lighting up the night sky is an impressive one, but what's even more remarkable is the technology behind the display. In 2008, park officials switched over entirely to LED lighting. LED, which stands for light-emitting diode, is a semi-conductor that produces light when it comes in contact with an electrical current. There's an LED on practically every electronic device you own, usually a small red bulb indicating that the device's power is on. Unlike light bulbs, which produce light by heating up a filament through an electrical current, LEDs are powered by the movement of electrons. As a result, they use nearly 100 percent of their energy generating light, not heat. And the fact that they don't get hot, compared to a light bulb, is a bonus when you're placing them in paper lanterns.

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The Magic of Lanterns uses what's called the TFT LED Contactless System, designed by Transfotec International in Quebec. It basically consists of a power supply and modules that connect to the power supply through strands of wire. Each module is placed in a lantern and can have an entirely different color, brightness output and number of lights, allowing for many variations in the garden's displays. And with the exception of the power supply, it has no direct physical electrical contacts, which protects the system during poor weather conditions. The biggest advantage of switching to LED lighting, however, is that it is environmentally friendly. The amount of energy used by the LED Contactless System is nearly 10 times less than the previous system, according to a press release from Montréal's Nature Museums. Just looking at the different displays at the Magic of Lanterns, you might not be able to spot the difference.

This year's event, which runs from Sept. 11 to Nov. 1, celebrates astronomy, with lanterns resembling traditional Chinese star patterns such as the Azure Dragon, the Black Tortoise, the White Tiger and the Vermilion Bird. Much like viewing constellations, it's best to catch the Magic of Lanterns at night, so the garden is open until 9 p.m. daily.

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