Smart lighting, a driver of energy efficiency for communities
Street lighting has traditionally been a major energy expense. The transition to smart lighting opens new opportunities in terms of energy efficiency and, more globally, the transition to the smart city.
As an expert in data efficiency, Energisme supports local authorities in these changes.
What is smart lighting?
Smart lighting refers to a public lighting system that integrates technologies such as cameras, photocells and IoT sensors to enable automated control.
Also known as intelligent public lighting, smart lighting is often a first step for local authorities in their evolution towards the smart city.
Initially, smart lighting was designed to address energy efficiency issues. It automatically modifies the light intensity of a lamp according to different variables.
Indeed, smart lighting devices are equipped with cameras and intelligent sensors. Installed on street lamps, they are able to detect movements and adapt urban lighting accordingly.
They also allow the lamps to communicate with each other.
Smart lighting is also...
Beyond urban lighting, smart lighting can also be used as a data collection system and contribute to other public policies, such as security or mobility policies.
A software platform, such as the Energisme solution, is designed to enhance the data collected by smart lighting.
Indeed, collecting more data is only an asset for the community if we are able to extract meaning from it.
The Energisme platform integrates this data with other data sources.
Crossed and analyzed, this data feeds the community’s decisions in terms of energy efficiency but also mobility, safety or urban planning.
Smart public lighting: what are the challenges for local authorities?
Combining budget savings and energy savings
According to ADEME, public lighting represents 41% of the electricity consumption of French local authorities.
On the one hand, local authorities are concerned about making savings in a context of budget restrictions. On the other hand, national and European regulations require them to look for solutions to improve their energy efficiency and meet the challenges of the energy transition.
Smart lighting is at the crossroads of these two imperatives.
In France, nearly 40% of streetlights have been in service for over 20 years. They are based on energy-intensive technologies that are becoming obsolete.
Maintaining these systems increases the energy bill of municipalities and generates significant maintenance costs.
Smart lighting makes it easy to :
- Adjustment of luminosity to suit actual lighting needs
- Remote monitoring and maintenance of equipment
ADEME supports local authorities in developing new urban lighting systems.
The replacement of high pressure sodium and mercury lamps by LED lamps is a first step towards better energy management. This equipment allows for easy reduction of light output when lighting needs are lower.
The addition of IoT sensors to these installations opens the way to an intelligent control of urban lighting according to multiple criteria (site frequentation, weather conditions, etc.). To accompany you in this direction, Energisme collaborates with an ecosystem of suppliers in connected objects.
Improve safety for pedestrians and vehicles
Combat insecurity by lighting sensitive areas of the city
Highlight the community's tourist attractions
Facilitate the activity of night workers, such as cleaning and road maintenance services
Launching the smart city transition
The replacement of obsolete street lighting installations is an opportunity to begin the transition of communities to a smart city model.
By integrating each street lamp into a connected network, all the community’s lamps become links in an IoT platform.
They enable the collection of multiple data:
- Traffic flow and use of community streets
- Road traffic
- Temperature and weather conditions
The analysis of smart lighting data by the Energisme solution is not limited to urban lighting issues.
The information collected can also be used for other smart city use cases: urban mobility, reflections on street furniture, safety policy, road safety, parking management…
Adopting smart lighting to improve energy efficiency
Smart street lighting
Smart lighting goes beyond the simple issue of improving public urban lighting infrastructures. It is part of a more global approach to the smart city.
From this perspective, smart public lighting is a gateway to the implementation of an energy management system at the territorial level.
Indeed, the integration of IoT sensors in public lighting contributes to the collection of energy data. These data, crossed with other data (energy bills, remote meter readings from concessionaires), are then fed into a public database.
The availability of energy data (open data):
- strengthens the community’s control over energy consumption
- facilitates collaborative data sharing
The smart city will thus be able to rely on this data in its exchanges with energy suppliers and electricity network managers in order to :
- optimize existing contracts
- adjust energy production to actual needs
