Street Lighting Case Studies

Quebec. Paris. Beijing. Oslo. Jakarta. Dublin. The street scenes vary, but cities worldwide share an imperative to improve the efficiency, costs, and operations of their streetlights. Echelon outdoor lighting control solutions are helping these cities, and others, do more with their strategic but costly lighting assets.

The challenge
It’s estimated that as much as 40% of city energy budgets are spent on outdoor lighting, and that a single street light can emit 200 kg of CO 2 each year. Increasingly, cities need to save energy or do more with less energy, reduce carbon emissions, lower operating and maintenance costs, and comply with tighter government regulations. In addition, many are exploring Smart City applications and the use of lighting to boost safety for both drivers and pedestrians.

For all these reasons, better lighting and lighting control top most cities’ priority lists.
Recently, Echelon has pioneered hybrid wired/wireless network products that enable cities to mix and match their communications media. For instance, cities can use wired power line communications (PLC) for tunnels or remote stretches of highway and wireless radio frequency (RF) where wired solutions are cost-prohibitive. In this way, cities can for the first time achieve 100% lighting coverage with a single solution.

Echelon’s lighting control products include the SmartServer 2.0 Controller, a segment controller with PLC and RF border routing; CRD 3000 RF-PLC street light bridge; CPD 3000 PLC (wired) light point controller; CPD 4000 RF (wireless) light point controller; and Central Management Software (CMS)-enabled client and server software.

The results
Cities that have implemented Echelon-based lighting control systems report results that include:
• average energy savings ranging from 28% to 62%—with up to one-third of the savings attributed to adaptive lighting control
• ability to free up energy according to demand
• lower ongoing maintenance and inventory costs through remote identification of lamp failures, preventive maintenance, and the use of lower-wattage, longer-lasting street lights
• improved public safety and satisfaction due to reduced lamp downtime, less light pollution, and better overall lighting quality
• reduced CO2 emissions
• rapid detection of electricity theft and leakage
• preservation of historical and decorative lights, while still attaining the benefits of modern lighting control
• compliance with European Union, worldwide, and local laws and directives for reduced energy use, CO2 emissions, and use of high-polluting components such as mercury
• an infrastructure for efficiently controlling future technologies, including Smart City and Internet of Things applications

Real-world examples
Norway’s capital, Oslo, was one of the first cities to deploy a large-scale intelligent, open standards-based outdoor lighting network built on Echelon technology. Data from traffic and weather sensors and an internal astronomical clock are used to automatically dim some street lights, thus reducing energy use by 62%, extending lamp life, and lowering replacement costs.
Elsewhere in Norway, Øvre Eiker, famous as the site of the first major Viking gold find, installed a dynamic outdoor lighting system with Echelon PLC transceivers and SmartServer segment controller that reduced street light energy use by 45%, cut maintenance costs by 35%, reduced CO2 emissions, and helped meet EU directives.
Using Echelon’s SmartServer and LonWorks-based power line technology, Quebec City saved 30% in energy use, reduced maintenance and inventory costs, increased public safety, and beautified the city’s historical district.

After installing electronic dimmable ballasts and enhanced fixtures controlled by Echelon technology, the densely populated Chinese cities of Dongguan and Shenzhen saved an average of 52% in energy costs; identified cable theft; and reduced the number of maintenance people
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Dublin completed a successful project replacing 1300 light points with electronic dimmable ballasts controlled by Echelon light point controllers, iLON segment controllers, and CMS cloud-based software. With average energy savings of 35%, Dublin approved the solution for the rest of the city.

In a Jakarta trial by Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy (MOE) Research and Development Agency, more-efficient street light lamps combined with dimming and scheduling capabilities from Echelon open-systems control technologies yielded 59% in energy savings. Plus, Jakarta was able to detect electricity theft and reduce maintenance and operational logistics of their outdoor lighting system.
The City of Paris replaced 80,000 light fixtures with an Echelon-based multivendor, open system. In addition to saving 35% in both energy and capital expenses, Paris is using its citywide lighting network as the basis for developing Smart City applications. In Sénart en Essonne, a four-city area 35 km south of Paris, an Echelon-based outdoor lighting system has helped reduce the area’s operating budget and maintenance costs while increasing road safety.

A state-of-the-art outdoor lighting system controlled by Echelon technology provides Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh and Mecca with real-time outdoor lighting control. Now, the cities can remotely turn lights on and off, adjust their intensity through automatic programming or sensors, detect energy leakage or possible cable cuts, and receive an alarm for any unauthorized opening of a power supply cabinet door.
Milton Keynes, 45 miles northwest of London, modernized its outdoor lighting network by installing smart electronic ballasts and enterprise monitoring software running on Echelon’s open, extensible architecture. The city’s lower-wattage street lights — paired with Echelon’s control network and various sensors—allow lamps to adjust illumination automatically for longer life and less light pollution; cast higher-quality light; and help the city satisfy various EU and worldwide directives to reduce energy usage.

This article is a lightly edited version of the original: http://www.echelon.com/use-case/lighting?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRolv67BZKXonjHpfsX66e8kUaC0lMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4DRcFkI+SLDwEYGJlv6SgFQ7TFMbpx1bgKWBI=