Smart street lighting a bright idea

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 23, 2017

Smart street lighting is garnering a lot more attention as more cities around the world become smart cities. Experts refer to smart street lighting as the backbone of a smart city without which, development could stall. As the convergence of everyday objects and the Internet of Things (IoT) grows, street lighting is no exception. In fact, technologically advanced street lights are becoming a priority amongst many councils, including those in Australia.

The complexities of smart street lighting will be discussed at the 5th Annual Australian Smart Lighting Summit 2017. Run over two days, the 13thand 14th of September, at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, the Summit will welcome both international and nationals experts from within lighting industry.

Bringing an international perspective to the Summit will be speakers Louise Rathleff, City of Copenhagen’s Technical and Environmental Administration Program Director and Stine Ellermann, City of Copenhagen’s Traffic division’s City lighting Coordinator.  With the aim of becoming the first carbon neutral city in the world, and leaders within the smart lighting industry, Copenhagen’s reduction plan strives for increasingly efficient smart street lighting to help reduce the city’s energy consumption by 50 per cent. Three major benefits from the project include saving energy and money; enabling smarter, safer human-powered transport and applying one network for multiple applications.

Quickening the development and installation of smart street lighting is the optimisation of the 24-hour city. With increasing crime rates as cities become more accessible out of traditional business hours, intelligent street light usage can help increase resident safety. An international example of this is AT&T’s CityIQ street lights in Las Vegas, where smart lighting solutions not only can measure data such as traffic congestion and weather, but also can detect gunshots to assist first responders to the scene. At the Summit, Senior Lecturer at Curtin University’s School of Built Environment, Dr. Paul Cozens will be outlining how intelligent lighting can reduce crime rates during night-time economic periods.

A current case study of an Australia smart street lighting project is in South Australia. In an effort to provide the state with improved public lighting solutions and maintenance services, paired with the decrease of greenhouse gas emissions, the South Australian Power Networks have been contracted to upgrade more than 30,000 LED lights, a number which is always growing. The contract will improve liveability and sustainability for the state.

The 5th Annual Smart Lighting Summit 2017, to be held at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre on September 13th and 14th, has a stellar line-up of expert speakers. The impressive agenda will bring together over 30 local and international lighting experts across government and private sectors, giving delegates the opportunity to hear what the industry has to offer.

Source: Australian Smart Lighting Summit 2017