Street Lighting and the Networked City

Networked street lighting combines the latest in city-scale, energy efficient lighting and digital networking. Technology used in this type of street lighting includes smart meters and LEDs.

Recently, Osram announced its networked street lighting solution using technology from Echelon, a San Jose-based networked street light company.

The technology would save 40 percent more energy with the city's street lighting system, compared to just using high-efficiency lamps alone.

"The vast majority of the world's streetlights remain inefficient. Without a network however, there's no way to tell whether they're still working or have broken down. Connecting them to a network can offer real-time control of whatever functionality the light itself offers."

Networked street lighting makes sense in most cases, especially given all the extra functionality. In fact, "street lighting networks can pay for themselves in energy savings in markets where electricity costs about 15 cents per kilowatt-hour or more."

Source: The Energy Collective

By Gaylen Davenport