Amey will be working alongside Walsall Council to install a £10m+ conversion programme of energy efficient street lighting
Amey will be helping Walsall with a £10m+ conversion programme, involving approximately 23,000 existing streetlights. They will be transitioning to using light emitting diodes (LED) with a central monitoring system (CMS) technology as of next month.
It is hoped that the modern, energy efficient street lighting will provide the ability to finely control light output in accordance with the local need whilst maintaining appropriate lighting standards.
The energy efficient street lighting will be carried out by Amey’s Streetlighting team. This will help to reduce energy consumption and contribute towards the Council’s aim of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
Currently, the annual carbon emission from Walsall’s street lighting is averaging at 7,715 tonnes. However, the conversion to LED and CMS will bring the annual carbon emissions down to 2,589 tonnes.
‘By investing to save now, we are protecting the public purse for the future’
Director of place and environment at Walsall Council, Dave Brown, said:
“Conversion of streetlights to LED and CMS control forms an integral strand of the Walsall Council Climate Emergency Action Plan 2020 – 2025.
“The fault reporting facilities within the CMS will further reduce the need for on-site routine maintenance checks and therefore ongoing maintenance costs.
“As well as these benefits, by investing to save now, we are protecting the public purse for the future.”
‘The works will increase energy saving, improve service delivery and will enable lighting to respond to citizen needs’
Nick Powell, account director at Amey, said:
“We are delighted to be working with Walsall Council to replace around 23,000 existing streetlights from conventional luminaire with the latest LED technology over the next two years. The works will increase energy saving, improve service delivery and will enable lighting to respond to citizen needs.
“We know from experience that these works will save on average in excess of 60% energy usage for the Council, reducing costs as well as saving thousands of tons of carbon emission involved in generating electricity.”
What are some of the other benefits of energy efficient street lighting?
- reduce the fear of crime
- LED does not have a gradual warm up period
- LED lighting has better colour rendering and improved shape definition making it much easier to identify people and objects on the public highway, increasing safety
- reduce light pollution into residential and commercial premises
- positively impact on the health of Walsall residents as a direct result of the reduction of carbon emissions
