IPWEA NZ President, Peter Higgs, has accepted the invitation and challenge from Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett, who recently signed New Zealand's commitments to the Paris Climate Change Agreement.
Bennet said: "I want to hear from all sectors on how we move forward" and "I hope it sparks more innovation and discussions on how we achieve this". Higgs says a new and innovative IPWEA program, supported by the Australian Government, is a prime example of what the New Zealand Government should embrace.
IPWEA’s Street Lighting and Smart Controls (SLSC) program is a partnership between the public and private sectors brokered by the peak industry body, IPWEA. With more than 4000 Australian and New Zealand members, the SLSC is a perfect example of what public and private sectors can do to bring about four large improvements areas for our society.
The SLSC programme will provide proven and measurable climate change improvement. It will lower operating expenditure and maintenance costs by around 50%. It will improve community and road safety, and it will facilitate smart cities and communities making them more liveable.
IPWEA CEO Robert Fuller says the SLSC represents a true win-win opportunity for all parties involved.
“Through the commitment and combined backing of the lighting and smart controls industry, peak industry bodies and the Australian Government, the SLSC Program is about to set the cohesion and direction to ensure that Australia maintains its world parity in the best practice rollout of LED systems and integrated smart control facilities," he says.
Higgs adds, “Although existing NZ government policies encourage the use of efficient LED and smart controls, unfortunately the take-up by local government is slow and it is estimated that only about 5-6% of all street lights are LED, and much less than that are utilising smart controls. We understand that a surprisingly few business cases have been submitted to NZTA for funding despite there being funds available.”
Having met with NZ Government agencies and key industry bodies earlier this year, IPWEA has written to the NZ Government seeking their equal (to the Australian Government) support of the SLSC program. IPWEA is still waiting for a response.
“I hope that the Minister reaches out to IPWEA so that we can brief her about the SLSC program," Higgs says. "If it's good enough for the Australia Government to back the SLSC Program and raise it formally at their COAG (Council of Australian Governments meeting in April) then surely, this is something that NZ can get behind as well.
"IPWEA’s innovative public private partnership SLSC program could be the catalyst for other initiatives to help the NZ Government and the environment."