Newsroom

How our new street lights are saving money and energy

Over the last few decades the internet, computers and smartphones have transformed our lives. They allow us to keep in touch with friends and relatives more easily, work from home, access entertainment from all around the world, and more, all at the touch of a button or screen.

 

There’s no doubt that new technology plays an important role in our lives and will continue to do so. But as well as looking forward to the advances the future might bring, we also need to make the best possible use of existing technology.

For the last five years, the County Council has been improving streetlights in Nottinghamshire, upgrading our infrastructure so it is as effective as possible. LED street lights are more efficient as they direct light where it is needed, resulting in a 60-70% drop in energy consumption and a reduction in CO2 emissions.

LED conversion has taken place countywide, with recent work in Ashfield and in Broxtowe. To date over 65,000 LED replacements have been installed; that’s more than half the streetlights in the county. A further 8,000 upgrades are expected to be finished by April 2021.

So far, our LED street lighting project has saved over 62 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy, amounting to a saving of £7.5 million and a reduction of nearly 55,000 tonnes in carbon dioxide emissions. To put that into context, one tonne of carbon would represent a trip of more than 3,700 miles in a diesel car.

Via East Midlands have been carrying out the work on behalf of Nottinghamshire County Council. We’ve invested £12 million in the scheme since 2014.

These new lights are saving us money and helping the environment. They don’t need to be repaired as often as the old ones; streetlighting fault reports have dropped by 47% in four years. These lights can be dimmed down when and where appropriate, usually between 10pm and 7am, when there are fewer vehicles on the roads, while still providing enough light for shift workers, emergency services and other late-night drivers.

I am very pleased with the success of this project. It won’t be long before the new LED lights have been installed across Nottinghamshire. Improvements like this will help to put our county in a much better position in the future.

Councillor John Cottee, Chairman of Nottinghamshire County Council's Communities and Place Committee,