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.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 at 2:22 pm and is filed under improved lighting, energy management, dimming, energy savings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.