Adelaide has lined its CBD with motion-activated LED street lights, in what is believed to be the first trial of its kind in Australia.
The smart street light trial has seen 64 street lights around the CBD fitted with smart monitoring technology. At night, the lights are set at a lower level, although the general area can still be safely seen. As a pedestrian or vehicle approaches, motion sensors adjust the lighting to full strength.
Technology known as ‘light harvesting’ is also in use, where the lighting take advantage of ambient light.
Adelaide City Council CIO Peter Auhl told ABC smart lighting technology has the ability to slash power bills and reduce emissions.
If the five-week trial is successful, the council will consider rolling out the smart LED units where standard LED units had been proposed
"We want to see that the types of benefits we are seeing internationally transfer into an Adelaide context," Auhl says.
“If we can play a part in actually showing some leadership in how we can deploy this type of technology, and really try and prove some of those theories and help people in the journeys to becoming carbon neutral, I think this is a really good way forward.”
Auhl says the smart technology allows real-time monitoring of each lighting head, providing information on how people are using the city.
"It's already starting to show that there is a lot more activity in Pirie Street during the night than we had expected," he explains.
While the project has raised some questions in the community about public safety, Auhl says safety is a priority.
“All of the testing we've done is making sure we bring the lightings heads down to a safe level of lighting, and we always make sure the monitoring we're doing is ensuring the environment is safe," he says.
“What we don't want to do is compromise people's safety at the expense of actually looking at our environmental objectives.”
Street lighting and smart controls program
Smart street lighting is right up IPWEA's alley: IPWEA’s has formally launched a two-year Street Lighting and Smart Controls (SLSC) Program.
The SLSC team has been awarded four contracts; the first requires the creation of a Roadmap document, to accelerate the take-up and rollout of LEDs and smart controls across Australia.
IPWEA is working with its partners ALGA, ENA and LCA to ensure that industry’s views are accurately and comprehensively reflected in the Roadmap.