E.ON looks at low carbon low cost LED streetlights

Michael Woodhead from E.ON talks to PSB about PFI-compliant LED street lights being installed in Whittington, and what this will mean for its carbon reduction targets.

Achieving more with less is the mantra of local authorities facing a future of limited resources.

More with less also chimes with the UK Government's target to tackle climate change with a long-term goal to reduce carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

An effective and fast fix for local authorities (LAs) to achieve more with less is street lighting.

It's often the case that you only really notice street lights when they're not working and, equally, few people are aware of the impact they have on the environment.

According to streetlightvision.com, street lighting is estimated to use around 2 per cent of the UK's electricity, accounting for over 1.2m tonnes of CO2 emissions every year.

In a number of areas across the country, LAs have been looking at ways to reduce the impact of street lighting and are adopting new energy-efficient LED lights on highways, in town centres and on residential roads as a cost-effective and energy-efficient replacement for traditional sodium street lamps.

Private sector organisations faced with reducing emissions have also been drawn to LED lights for car parks and business premises.

Lamps such as the Marlin LED street light, developed by E.ON's Sustainable Energy business in conjunction with Advanced LEDs, consume up to 70 per cent less energy (estimated carbon savings based on installation of the lights at E.ON's HQ in Coventry) than traditional street lights and could potentially reduce the UK's carbon footprint by 853,013 tonnes.

Launched in January, the Marlin street lights have a considerably longer life and will last in excess of 150,000 hours, compared to conventional street lights of 12,000 hours, which, in long term trials, has been shown to reduce whole life running costs by a third.

Whittington in Staffordshire recently became the first village in that county to benefit from the Marlin street lights.

The village is aiming to become a low carbon community, along with its neighbouring village of Fisherwick, and in 2009 won the prestigious Guardian Green Heroes award.

Now, thanks to this project, the villagers have these remarkably low carbon street lights to add to their list of eco credentials and, with the energy savings brought by the lights, the Council is also saving money.

LED lights provide a better quality of bright white light and cause less light pollution.

In trials, the quality of the lights was shown to improve the resolution of CCTV footage, suggesting that these lights could improve safety in areas that choose to install them as well as cutting carbon emissions.

On top of this, LEDs contain no harmful mercury or heavy metals and can therefore be practically and affordability disposed of at the end of their guaranteed 25-year life.

The removal of an element ensures that lamp replacement timescales are greatly extended, reducing the man-hour cost for maintenance.

Until recently, LED street lights had not been proven for large scale deployment and they had not met the stringent standards for street lighting markets.

The last 12 months, however, have seen a number of local councils taking advantage of PFI schemes where public infrastructure projects are funded with private capital.

This allows third parties to take full ownership of a project from start to finish, maintain strong relationships with clients and stakeholders alike and apply their expertise in specialist services - in this case energy.

Another town that has chosen to adopt the new lights is one that is only too familiar with the value of illumination - Blackpool.

Over a period of 25 years, E.ON's Sustainable Energy business will upgrade, operate and manage the town's 20,000 street lights and 2,000 traffic signals on nearly 430km of highways.

The scheme is set to save Blackpool Council tax-payers up to 25 per cent of their street lighting as well as remove more than 1,400 tonnes of carbon emissions per year.

Furthermore, once installed, the lights are expected to reduce the cost of annual maintenance.

As the first place in the world to install electric street lighting, in 1879, Blackpool was keen to stay ahead of the trends by installing these new, environmentally friendly lights and to see how modern lighting could improve road safety, help tourism and even reduce crime.

With businesses such as E.ON's Sustainable Energy business, innovative and realistic solutions for communities across the UK looking to cut their carbon footprints, are now available.

Although the wider market itself is still catching up, E.ON is confident that the whole of the UK will switch to LED street lights in the next decade.

If all the UK street lights were replaced with these energy saving lights, 6m tonnes of carbon emissions could be saved over 30 years.

Michael Woodhead is managing director of E.ON's Sustainable Energy business.

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