Smart lighting for efficiency and dark skies in Hobart

Jurisdiction: Tasmania

Cities spend millions every year lighting their streets. In an era of efficiency and emissions reductions there are smarter ways to maintain safety without lighting empty streets. We have the data. We want big ideas.

Legislation requires certain levels of lighting for safety and security. But cities have become lazy and every night we light every street in the city, whether someone is there or not. Lighting is unmetered, so we pay for 10 hours a day, whether the light is working or not. If we dim or turn off a light, we still pay.

Armed with a dataset of Hobart’s street lights, their energy consumption and location, we are looking for big ideas about how we might rethink city lighting. Can we meter each light individually? What savings can we achieve by installing LEDs to replace higher power technology? What if we dim lights to 10% when nobody is in the street? How do we maintain the correct level of lighting and sense of safety when somebody walks or drives into an area? Can we achieve better dark skies outcomes by changing out lighting regimes? Could we use solar and battery power?

Consider the following inputs:
• Lighting energy costs
• Lighting network charges
• Lighting replacement costs
• Lighting maintenance costs
• Pole installation costs
• Solar pole costs