Sustainable Street Lighting Trial
The City of Armadale, in partnership with Western Power, Synergy and Sylvania Lighting, has commenced a Sustainable Street Lighting trial in a bid to reduce costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
The innovative trial, which is being rolled out as part of the award winning switch your thinking! program, will assess the performance of two new sustainable technologies - 42W compact fluorescent light globes (CFLs) and 50W twin-arc high pressure sodium lamps - on four specially selected streets in Armadale and Kelmscott.
New generation LED technology is also being trialled by another SEREG Council, the City of Gosnells, although it is expected that further improvements in LED technologies may need to be made before these can meet standards.
Street lighting currently accounts for up to 50% of WA local governments' annual energy bill and corporate greenhouse gas emissions, approximately 90,000 tonnes of C02.
The two trialled technologies are expected to use up to 33% less energy.
The trial will also enable Western Power to look at the economics of retrofitting existing streetlights in the Perth metropolitan area, and assess the performance of the two new technologies in WA's unique environmental conditions.
In the trial the CFLs and high pressure sodium lamps will replace the old, inefficient 80W mercury vapour lamps. These lamps currently constitute up to 80% of WA local governments' public lighting stock.
In a ground-breaking move and regardless of the outcome of the trial, Western Power has given in-principle support to phasing out 80W mercury vapour light globes from WA's public lighting stocks over the next 5-10 years.
It is hoped that if, as expected, the two trialled technologies prove successful, they will be added to Western Power's street lighting range within 2 years.
This will effectively enable all WA local governments to choose the new, efficient technologies to replace 80W mercury vapour street lights in their municipalities. It is expected that this could seamlessly occur through Western Power's Bulk Globe Replacement program.
Chair of the South East Regional Energy Group, Councillor Pat Hart, said that the Sustainable Street Lighting trial was progressing well and was being closely monitored by other WA local government authorities.
"As street lighting accounts for up to 50% of local government's annual greenhouse gas emissions, there are many other WA local governments watching this trial with interest, as the technology has the potential to significantly slash corporate greenhouse gas emissions.
"We have been liaising with Western Power and Synergy for some time now and are rapt that they have come to the table and are working with us on this important trial.
"WALGA have also been integral to discussions with all parties and are to be commended for the role they have played in bringing all the key parties to the table."
As part of the trial, Nilsens Electrics have been engaged to assist with monitoring the light levels of the new street lights - this will be done on a quarterly basis over the course of the 2-year trial.
Residents living on the streets involved in the trial have also been surveyed to help collect information on the quality of the new lights and any other feedback that might be relevant to the final evaluation of the project and decision-making process.
These residents, in Little John and Owtram Streets in Armadale, and Fancote St and Page Rd in Kelmscott, are also being asked to report any faults or outages to the City of Armadale's Environmental Officer directly on 9399 0111, rather than following the normal procedure for reporting street lighting faults to Western Power.
For more information on this trial download the full case study.
