Image: Stanley Zimney
A new report has recommended that councils across Australia could save $100 million per year on street lighting by switching to LED lighting.
In the form of the Street Lighting and Smart Controls (SLSC) Programme Roadmap, the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA) has made 15 recommendations to fast-track Australia’s changeover to LED street lighting.
According to the IPWEA modelling, if every street light in Australia were changed over to LEDs, the energy used to power those lights and the greenhouse gas emissions produced would be halved.
The report says that LED street lights allow the addition of ‘smart controls’ – enabling ‘smart city’ functions such as remote monitoring and lights that adjust light levels at different times of the night or when they sense motion – this figure could be as high as 72%.
The report says that councils in Australia spend about $400 million each year on street lighting. But changing over to smart controlled LEDs could reduce that cost by 25%.
Additionally, international studies have indicated that the high-quality white light produced by LEDs may have an important role to play in reducing the fear of crime and in reducing road accidents.
IPWEA CEO Robert Fuller says Australia cannot afford to ignore this opportunity to provide communities with better, safer, cheaper and more efficient street lighting, and that the Roadmap provides a clear pathway to achieving a large-scale changeover to LED street lighting.
“The addition of smart controls will make street lights the backbone of smart city infrastructure, an innovation that is destined to become increasingly vital as we strive to meet the demands of our growing cities,” he said.
