Smart Lighting

May 08, 2015

Smart Lighting

Image credit @EDIFICIO AYASHA, Arq. Jose Orrego, Bogota – Colombia

Expanding urbanisation and expected population growth in cities is placing pressure on finite resources. There needs to be smarter thinking around how energy resources are used as urban areas expand. What technologies can be adopted and implemented by cities to improve resident’s lives as well as be more energy efficient.

A report entitled Lighting the Clean Revolution: the rise of LED and what it means for cities was developed by Philips and the Climate Group in 2012 to look into the application of LED (light-emitting diode) lighting in cities.

Harry Verhaar from Philips states that lighting accounts for 19 per cent of the world’s total electricity consumption. He advocates the use of smart lighting such as LED lighting at street level to bring about electricity savings of 50-70 per cent.

Cities including Sydney have implemented a program to roll out LED lights. So far they have installed more than 5,545 lights in parks and at street level. The city has already saved almost $370,000 and reduced energy use more than 46% since March 2012. There are plans to replace about 6,500 conventional lights with LEDs over the next 3 years. It is the first of its kind in Australia.

Producing a brighter light than a traditional street light, LED lights makes a huge difference to a community’s sense of safety, as well as improve the look and feel of a city. Often lighting can be overlooked, however, other cities such as New York, London and Hong Kong have joined Sydney to trial LED lights. This was arranged by the international environment collective, the Climate Group.

To read more about how innovative urban lighting is catching on follow the links below:

http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/vision/towards-2030/sustainability/carbon-reduction/led-lighting-project

http://www.newcitiesfoundation.org/how-will-smart-lighting-impact-the-future-city/ http://www.theclimategroup.org/what-we-do/publications/lighting-the-clean-revolution-the-rise-of-leds-and-what-it-means-for-cities/