( CNN ) -- Imagine if a streetlamp knew you were coming . It could announce your arrival from a distance . If you were on a date , it could help set the mood . It could ring in the new year with dazzling effects , change color at will , even announce days in advance when its bulb was set to blow . In fact , there is nothing future-tense about this fantastical vision ; in a handful of municipalities in Europe , streetlights have become downright chatty . The system is called Tvilight . It was invented by Dutch designer Chintan Shah while a student at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands . When flying overseas , he noticed streetlamps lighting streets that , in the middle of the night , were empty and desolate . `` I started researching , '' he says . `` I wondered , why are they burning ? How much does it cost ? Is this a problem ? I discovered some amazing numbers . '' Read more : 12 amazing designs from the past 100 years . Shah found that Europe pays over â‚¬10 billion ( $ 13 billion ) a year powering streetlights , which accounts for more than 40 % of government energy bills . This translates into 40 million tons of CO2 emissions annually -- enough to power 20 million cars . His solution was to create an intelligent , `` on-demand '' lighting system using wireless sensors . Streetlights only light up in the presence of a person , bicycle or car , and remain dim the rest of the time . Shah has also developed the technology to distinguish between people and smaller animals , like cats and mice , so it would avoid lighting up unnecessarily . `` I thought , why should each citizen pay for street lights that are n't being used ? We now have a solution for that . '' Spurred on by his professors , Shah entered the concept in a campus competition and won . Delft handed over their facilities and gave him the financial backing to create a demonstration on campus . Since then , Tvilight has been implemented in four municipalities in Holland and one in Ireland , with many more to come . `` We have enquiries from Israel , Turkey , the United States , Australia , India and Japan . The problem is not a lack of enquiries , it 's the team 's capacity to deliver the solution worldwide , '' he says . Read more : Technology of tomorrow . Shaw reckons the system will slash energy costs and CO2 emissions by 80 % , and maintenance by another 50 % , thanks to the integrated wireless sensor that allows lamps to alert a central control center when it 's time to be serviced . Tvilight 's primary purpose is to conserve energy . But when CNN invited Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde to offer advice as a mentor for Shah , he pointed to the technology 's more artistic potential . `` How can we use the technology to make environments more human ? More sustainable ? More natural ? '' asks Roosegaarde . `` We want to make it like it 's your friend , or it 's an animal , or it does things you do n't know about . It 's not just a machine with a feedback loop , but something that has its own intelligence and is willing to negotiate , to hack you in the same way you hack it . '' So , for example , an ambulance or fire truck could communicate with the lamps to make them flicker red before they drive through . Read more : The bright world of electric paint . `` It could save the ambulance two minutes because the light could tell everyone it 's coming , and they could move aside more quickly because we control the streets , we control the lamps , '' says Shah . `` It could save a life . '' Roosegaarde suggests the uses could be `` pragmatic or super poetic . '' `` Imagine I can write a piece of software , so when I take my girlfriend out for a walk , it does something special , and wow , you have this boulevard of interactive lights , '' he adds . It is the type of thinking that garners endless scenarios . Depending on the occasion , streetlamps can flicker and change color to create any number of designs . Shah envisions that during a live sporting event , a street could even spell out the score . `` This is not just about saving electricity , it 's not just about the medium , it 's about the message , and what you want it to generate , '' says Roosegaarde .
Tvilight is a streetlamp system that brightens in the presence of people , cars and bicycles . New system could slash energy bills by 80 % in cities around the world . Europe spends $ 13 billion annually on fueling street lights . Artist : `` Imagine ... you have this boulevard of interactive lights ''