A Revolution Taking Place On Vale Streets
A REVOLUTION TAKING PLACE ON VALE STREETS
Have you ever had the feeling street lighting is not what it used to be? Not surprising when we can trace the history back to 500BC! Today the Vale of Glamorgan Council are well advanced in the latest street lighting revolution. LED streetlights are being installed in all residential streets as part of a £1.4 million investment project that will benefit the environment by reducing Co2 emissions and energy costs. But what are the advantages?
Street lighting seems to have started in China in what is now Beijing c500BC, when natural gas (from volcano gas leaks) was led through bamboo pipes to serve as a fuel for streetlamps. Ancient Romans used oil lamps filled with vegetable oil in front of their houses. They used special slaves, whose only duty was to take care of those lamps, to light them, extinguish them and watch that they always had oil. The first organised method of public lighting was in 1417 when the Mayor of London, Sir Henry Barton, introduced a law that all houses must hang lanterns outside when night fell during the winter months. It wasn’t until 1807 that London got its first gas lit street. Every evening lamplighters, men whose job was to take care of the gas street lights, were lighting the lanterns and every morning they were putting them out.
The Vale’s LED project promises a rather more sophisticated and efficient way of lighting our streets. The high startup costs must be balanced by the longer-term benefits. Over
10,000 conventional street lighting lanterns have been replaced by more efficient LED alternatives. The Vale claims the project will reduce ongoing maintenance and repair costs. LED lanterns can last for 20 to 25 years, or 100,000 hours compared to conventional lighting, which only has a life span of three to six years. LED lights are more efficient. A common problem with older streetlights, which contain mechanical clocks, is that their timing and lighting up times can be put out of sync, either by general power cuts or by insects jamming the mechanism. In both instances the clocks must be manually reset.
The environmental benefits extend to reduced energy consumption and lower greenhouse gas emissions. LEDs are free from hazardous materials like mercury, making them much kinder to our planet. Plus, they’re fully recyclable, further tipping the scales in favour of sustainability. When Los Angeles swapped their old streetlights for LEDs, they cut down CO2 emissions by 47,000 metric tons each year. That’s equivalent to taking thousands of cars off the road! Imagine cutting your electricity use by 70%!
The Vale report that a key feature of the new system is that the new lights can be dimmed by 50% between midnight and 6am, when the higher lighting levels are not required due to the lack of pedestrian and road traffic. Many of us have peered out onto the street in the dead of night and felt that the lighting is less vibrant than it used to be, and some have commented on the potential security implications that may result. However, the Vale report that LED lights enhance facial recognition for CCTV cameras.
LED may be the tip of the iceberg. SMART streetlight networks are already being adapted for more uses. The potential is huge. Cities deploy air quality monitors and noise sensors alongside the lighting controls, gathering data to tackle pollution hotspots and excessive urban noise. In Christchurch, New Zealand, planners are exploring using this network to collect and transmit water meter data.
*You can report a street light fault to the Vale of Glamorgan Council using an online form or by telephone 01446 700111.