Efficiency projects showcased at Australian Smart Lighting Summit

The Australian Smart Lighting Summit, held in Melbourne last week, saw over 40 councils, energy providers, road authorities, contractors and designers gather from across Australia to discuss strategies and new technology for public lighting retrofits aimed at reducing energy consumption and costs.

At the national event, hosted annually by the City of Melbourne, over 200 lighting industry experts and sustainability consultants met for a concentrated program of presentations, panels and roundtable discussions to showcase the progress of street lighting rollout projects and highlight some of the barriers being faced in achieving faster results.

Over 60 Australian councils including Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart are currently in the rollout process or have completed bulk lighting changeovers, with over 148,000 lights upgraded so far. Municipal Association of Victoria and Ironbark Sustainability have partnered to help Victorian councils deliver a bulk transition of over 232,000 street lights to energy-efficient alternatives, which, with an expected saving of $431 million, makes it the second-largest street lighting project in the world.

George Angelis, manager of infrastructure and traffic operations at the City of Sydney, presented the city’s LED retrofit success, while Martin Valentine of Abu Dhabi Municipality gave an international perspective on public realm lighting strategy and smart lighting technology. There was also a focus on outdoor lighting control, with a panel of experts including Rob Evans of Organic Response shedding light on the maturity of the control technology and a need for a greater understanding of its importance.

Lighting technology suppliers including Philips, Gerard Professional Solutions, OrangeTek, LEDified and Silver Spring Networks were amongst the sponsors showcasing their latest solutions in the boutique exhibition, which allowed delegates to consider a range of products that may be suitable for use within their parks and streets.

The event, organised by Expotrade Global, will return to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 8-9 September 2015.