Rosher.Net

South Gloucestershire Council
Press Release
South Gloucestershire Council,
Castle Street, Thornbury, BS35 1HF,

Issue Date: 06/01/2014

Charfield leads the way with new street lighting technology
For immediate release

Charfield is to be the first area of South Gloucestershire to be lit by LED street lights, in the first stage of a district-wide roll-out of the new technology that will begin later this year.

Nearly 300 new lights will be installed in Charfield during January, reducing the parish’s street lighting costs from £11,000 to £3,500 per year and cutting related carbon emissions from 45 to 10 tonnes.

Work to install the new lights will begin on 6 January and is scheduled to run until the end of the month. The new technology will then be gradually installed in all of South Gloucestershire’s 30,000 street lights from May 2014, as part of a rolling investment programme over the next decade.

Head of Streetcare for South Gloucestershire Council Mark King said: “This is an exciting new phase in our drive to reduce South Gloucestershire’s street lighting-related energy costs and carbon emissions.

“Just as most residents have now swapped inefficient incandescent light bulbs in their homes for low-energy alternatives, we are also moving to install our own low-energy, low-cost LED lights that will make a big difference to our street lighting energy bills and C02 emissions.”

Mark Rosher, Chair of Charfield Parish Council, said: “Charfield was the first parish in South Gloucestershire to move to part-night lighting. We found this to be a successful initiative that reduced South Gloucestershire’s energy costs as well as returning the night sky to us.

“By going further and moving to LED lighting we will save even more energy, which is not only good for reasons of cost but also for reducing our carbon equivalent emissions. Lighting the right places, at the right times, makes perfect sense and we are proud to pilot this technology with South Gloucestershire Council.”

LED lights are fast becoming the norm for local authority street lights as they consume about 60 per cent less energy than older sodium lights and last four times as long.

The advanced technology in the new lights offers a number of benefits including the ability to dim their output when required, in order to further reduce energy costs.

The lights are also known to help reduce light pollution by directing their beam more effectively at the ground, cutting down on light ‘overspill’ to the side and above.

Detailed plans for the introduction of LEDs were approved by South Gloucestershire councillors in September 2013.

Residents with questions about the new units can find out more at http://www.southglos.gov.uk/LED

ENDS

For all media enquiries please contact: Strategic Communications 01454 863 200
Email: dominic.moody@southglos.gov.uk
Website: http://www.southglos.gov.uk

Notes to editors

1. Policy documents:

Revised street lighting policy (Planning, Transportation and Strategic Environment Committee, September 2012): http://council.southglos.gov.uk/documents/s29504/Street%20Lighting%20Report.pdf

LED street lighting and dimming regime (Planning, Transportation and Strategic Environment Committee, September 2013): http://council.southglos.gov.uk/documents/s40160/LED.pdf

Issued by Dominic Moody on 06/01/2014 10:49:49

[all the above cut and paste into blog as issued…

The graphics below show that since this ambitious project began, Charefield’s street lighting costs and the CO2 equivalent emissions have dropped drastically. From 86MWh to 19, and from 45 T(CO2e) to just ten.