The street lighting, smart control and energy industries have united for the release of a major report on the future of Australia’s street lighting that demonstrates the massive economic, environmental and public safety benefits of switching to LED lighting. 

IPWEA's Street Lighting and Smart Controls (SLSC) Programme Roadmap makes 15 recommendations to fast-track Australia’s changeover to LED street lighting.

 IPWEA modelling shows that 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.

With 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%. 

In Australia, councils spend about $400 million each year on street lighting. Changing over to smart controlled LEDs would reduce that cost by 25%. 

In addition, 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.

However, only 10% of street lights in Australia have been changed over to LEDs, and almost none have been installed with smart controls. Many street lights still use old mercury vapour technology, which is both inefficient and contains the toxic chemical mercury.

IPWEA CEO Robert Fuller says Australia cannot afford to ignore this opportunity to provide communities with better, safer, cheaper and more efficient street lighting.

“The international community has overwhelmingly embraced the technology, placing Australia in a situation where our journey toward LED street lighting is lagging behind some other countries and regions, including in India, the UK and the US,” he said.

Mr Fuller said the Roadmap provided a clear pathway to achieving a large-scale changeover to LED street lighting.

“All of industry, including peak industry associations, have worked collaboratively with all three tiers of government to produce this Roadmap,” he said.

“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.” 

The Roadmap has been compiled in consultation and with the support of the Department of the Environment and Energy as well as major lighting and smart controls companies. A wide number of parties were consulted including state and territory governments, the Australian Local Government Association, Lighting Council Australia, Energy Networks Australia as well as individual utilities, road authorities, local governments and more than 30 street lighting technology suppliers.

The Roadmap is supported by the SLSC Portal – a free resource for the industry with case studies, reference documents, information on upcoming events and curated news from the street lighting and smart controls world.  

To read the Roadmap and for more information on the SLSC Programme, visit the portal at www.slsc.org.au. 

SLSC Council members:

Department of the Environment and Energy
E3 – Equipment, Energy, Efficiency
Australian Local Government Association
Energy Networks Australia
Lighting Council Australia
Philips
Current powered by GE
Gerard Lighting
Cisco
Silver Spring Networks
Next Energy
Strategic Lighting Partners

Technical Advisory Group (TAG) members:

Adelaide City Council
Aldridge Traffic Systems
Brisbane City
Citelum
City of Darwin
City of Sydney
City of Ipswich
Eaton
Electrix
Eye Lighting
IES
Energy Networks
Lighting Council New Zealand
LGNZ
Oak Electronics
Orange Tek
Pecan Lighting
Schreder
Southern Sydney Region of Councils (SSROC)
Telematics Wireless
Telensa
Toshiba
VRT Systems

Industry feedback on the Roadmap to date

“I couldn’t find one thing to fault it…. this is an excellent document that outlines where we are at, the opportunities and challenges.”
Ian Killick, Regional Manager Australia & New Zealand, Current powered by GE.
 
“To all those involved I say thank you and congratulations.”
Russell Loane, Managing Director, Eye Lighting Australia Pty Ltd.

“Huge thanks for all work the on our Feasibility Report [providing an extract from the Roadmap], we understand it has been very well received within Council of Mayors South East Queensland.”
Clinton Parker, Director Business Solutions, Local Government Infrastructure Services.

Model specifications and street lighting conference

The next phase in the SLSC Programme is the development of model specifications and other template documents to assist with procurement and application for suppliers, councils, road authorities and electrical distribution utilities.

The goals of the Roadmap will be supported by the 3rd International Street Lighting + Smart Controls conference, to be held in Brisbane, March 14 – 17 2017. View the conference website for more details: www.streetlightingconference.com.au.