StreetLightNews

In Warwickshire County, UK, the local newspaper reported last year that parts of the county’s street lights would be switched off in the early morning hours in order to save money. The county’s annual street lighting bill of £1.5 million could be reduced by £650,000, and this has sparked excitement among local politicians because the savings can be measured immediately. But the full switch off has resulted in protests from local inhabitants who believe that it will reduce street safety and lead to an increase in crime.
The debate has caused the county to support a proposal for a dimming pilot project instead of the full switch off. Comments from the councillors were mixed and revealed a great deal of scepticism. A Warwickshire council spokesman is quoted for saying that the cost of installing and operating a dimming system will be greater than any reduction in energy costs, but does state that this will change if the process becomes widely used.
Though the solution may be new in some areas, it is very widespread in others, and can be solidly backed by several years of excellent results, significant savings and return on investment of 1-2 years. Dimming solutions do have an initial cost, but this will quickly be outweighed by the savings on electricity and maintenance – without significant reductions in the street light quality. It seems bizarre that there are still serious considerations about lowering the street light quality through complete switch off when there are an abundance of intelligent street light providers offering well-tested and mature technologies.

In New Zealand, as in several other countries around the world, the operator of the street lights is not necessarily owner of the cables that supply power to the poles.
Take Rotorua, for example. While the Rotorua District Council is responsible for maintaining the poles and the light bulbs, the cables supplying power to the network is owned by a power company.
Due to a disagreement over areas of responsibilities, a simple repair of the street lights in a particular stretch of the road took over eight weeks. This is often the case when the operator and manager of the street lights is not also the owner of the entire infrastructure for the power network. Also, it makes it significantly more complicated to install central control systems.
It is surprising that the council is not working harder on establishing a method for optimized street light control. The single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from local councils (30-50%), and the prospect of significant energy savings combined with an improved quality of light should have them clapping their hands. Read the article here…  

In Trenton, Ohio, the cost of street lights will most likely be distributed evenly among the local residents. In an effort to cut down on the expenses in the city’s general funds, which is currently paying the $87,000 per year for street light, the residents will split the bill. This amounts to $1.50-2.00 a month. The city has had a discussion on its online forum, and has had no negative responses from residents. A similar scheme is used in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where the city will switch to LEDs, covering the cost through energy savings. However, as a first step in the plan, the city has implemented a special street light tax on downtown property owners.
These approaches to street light savings are rather unorthodox. Letting the citizens pay for the savings through taxes may be a good way of obtaining far-sighted investments in intelligent street light control and management which may otherwise be too expensive here and now.
Residents may be made increasingly aware of the actual costs of lighting and energy consumption, and at least the residents will not have to suffer from a poorer quality of street lights, such as complete switch off or turning off every other light. Read here for additional information… 

Ladera Ranch residents in California have their work cut out for them. According to the Orange County Register, the maintenance department has enacted a street light outage reporting program partially based on citizen surveillance. When residents discover a mal-functioning street light, they can call a toll-free number and give the location of the particular pole. In order to help the maintenance crew locate the faulty pole, the maintenance department is offering red ribbons for the residents to tie around the poles. The fault will then be repaired within 5-10 business days…