ecoinvestor.com.au May 2015

Property

Councils Save with LED Lighting

Switching to LED street lighting is expected to save Australia's local councils up to $87 million and prevent 720,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere each year, according to the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA).

Street lighting costs at least $400 million per year and is one of the single largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions from local government, typically accounting for 30 to 60 per cent of greenhouse emissions.

Councils have a wide variety of new lighting forms to choose from, but LEDs have emerged as the favourite. With a lifespan of 20 years, they are seen as the lighting technology of the future and provide better direct lighting and low glare.

LEDs are expected to save around 77 per cent of energy use compared to traditional street lighting. And along with the dramatic reduction in greenhouse gases and maintenance costs, they are also expected to improve safety for drivers and pedestrians.

The industry says that throughout Australia there is "somewhat of an energy efficiency revolution occuring" with over 60 councils including Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart currently in the rollout process or having completed bulk lighting changeovers. The energy efficiency revolution is now full-speed ahead and in early April the 200,000th energy efficient street light was changed over.

An example is the Lighting the Regions Project, a collaboration between 16 local governments across North, West and Central Victoria and two leading sustainability alliances to create the largest street lighting partnership project in Australia. This project aims to create more energy efficient and sustainable communities through education and engagement with regional people and pulling together expertise, resources and financial resources.

Similar projects are being undertaken across the other states with the Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils' (SSROC) Street Lighting Improvement Program in NSW, the Ipswich Street Lighting Retrofit Project in Qld, the Hobart and Glenorchy Street Lighting Replacement Project in Tasmania, among others.

The progress of these street lighting projects will be one of the topics along with lighting design for precincts, recreational facilities and other areas that will be discussed at the Australian Smart Lighting Summit in Melbourne on 8 and 9 September.

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