Efficient road lighting
New Zealand's 330,000 road lights operate for over 4,000 hours each year and cost councils and ratepayers over $30 million in annual energy consumption.
Advances in road lighting technologies have provided an increasing range of options for councils to improve the energy efficiency of their lighting networks while also improving the lighting efficacy.
To help councils realise the savings and performance potential, the Electricity Commission teamed up with the following organisations to develop a comprehensive online efficient road lighting resource:
- Christchurch City Council
- Connetics
- Lighting Management Consultants
- New Zealand Transport Agency
- Local Government New Zealand
- New Zealand Institute of Highway Technology
Other organisations with specific expertise in road lighting and energy efficiency also played important roles in defining the requirements of the various road lighting calculators, information, templates and guidelines.
The resource is designed to provide practical support to councils and related parties - assisting them to achieve their electricity efficiency objectives for existing lighting infrastructure while also ensuring new road lighting installations follow best practice guidelines for efficiency and performance.
Energy efficient road lighting has multiple benefits beyond the obvious energy and maintenance cost savings. These benefits include appropriate lighting levels and visibility which can lessen the need for additional security lighting as well as greater community safety through improved visibility and a reduction in crime. The greater security that people feel from improved visibility flows through to social and economic benefits.
The road lighting initiative is part of the wider RightLight efficient lighting programme that is set to save over 100GWh/annum after three years - equating to over $23m of savings per annum.
More Information
Use the online road lighting resource on the RightLight website.
