The illuminating world of industrial lighting… and how it’s getting seriously smart and connected

THE ILLUMINATING WORLD OF EXTERIOR LIGHTING…

AND HOW IT’S GETTING SERIOUSLY SMART AND CONNECTED!

Exterior lighting has evolved significantly over the last decade, but CFE Lighting’s Amanda Speight believes that pace of change is nothing compared with what we’ll see over the next five to 10 years.

The exterior lighting category is more expansive now than at any time in its history, comprising of any hardwired, voltage or solar powered lighting that is used for illuminating outdoor areas, from road lighting right the way through to the security lighting prevalent in most urban areas.

There’s no doubting that there has been a real evolution in exterior lighting, particularly over the last decade, which has been largely driven by a switch to energy efficient Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), driven by sustainability targets, emerging and evolving government standards and the need to reduce costs.

Take public street lighting as an example: it’s an essential element of our environment, providing a sense of safety and social inclusion to residents, improving visibility for motorists and creating a more inviting environment for business and tourism after dark. And while it’s certainly not the case everywhere – one third of the world’s roads are still lit by technology dating back to the 1960s – in the UK we’ve seen local authorities working hard over the last decade to make the switch from traditional sodium lamps to LED lights, which as well as providing the same amount of lighting, have a much longer life-expectancy (between 20-25 years) and require significantly less energy, resulting in far lower energy costs. Furthermore, LED street lighting is more focused and less wasteful, delivering significant health and safety benefits through improving driver visibility while reducing obtrusive light and spillage onto residential properties.

But Amanda believes the pace of change we have seen over the last decade is nothing compared to what we will see over the next 10 years, as exterior lighting becomes increasingly smart and connected. In truth, we’re already starting to see tantalising glimpses of what the future holds.

Smart city lighting systems are starting to be introduced in various areas in the UK, with these systems used to not only provide a safe illuminated roadway but also to collect data through controls and sensors which can be used to better manage service efficiencies, assets and resources.

It means that the lighting network exists as a multi-purpose solution, shining light in the right areas, at the right times, whilst also collecting valuable data on areas ranging from air quality, temperature and wind speed through to people counting, crowd noise and population density.

Surrey is one such area that will benefit from such a system, with Surrey County Council announcing last year that it intends to roll out intelligent street lighting in a project that will see 89,000 street lamps replaced or retrofitted with LEDs, saving a predicted 7,700 tonnes of carbon emissions each year.

Crucially, this network of street lighting is being made smarter through upgrades to the existing central management system (CMS) to create an intelligent solution that has the capacity to grow and adapt to the council’s ongoing needs. Through these upgrades, Surrey County Council will have access to data that enables it to better manage the county’s lighting in terms of safety, energy use and maintenance, as well as enabling potential efficiencies across a number of other areas including environmental monitoring, flood management, air quality and traffic control.

So, what does all this mean for electrical contractors? Well, all of the evidence suggests that demand for multi-purpose exterior lighting systems will only increase as more and more users become aware of the huge financial, social and environmental benefits such systems are capable of delivering.

The era of a lamp post being just a humble lamp post is over and, moving forwards, we can expect exterior lighting solutions to be adaptable and interoperable. Yes, the primary purpose of a street lighting systems will always be to illuminate chosen areas in a considered, flexible way, but they will become way more intelligent than ever before. Gone will be the days of operatives having to perform the time-consuming task of driving along streets to check for expired or broken lights, with intelligent systems instead relaying real-time data to controllers about how each individual light is performing. Control system operators will routinely be able to adapt the light that these systems emit according to changeable daylight levels, ensuring clear visibility all of the time.

Possibly the biggest difference we’ll see is the addition of an array of sensors in exterior lighting to create super intelligent, integrated networks. Motion sensors, which switch on lights when motorists or pedestrians pass by, will become much more commonplace, emulating the system in the city of Eeniend in the Netherlands which dims LEDs to 20% power when no one is around, only switching to full power when sensors detect movement.

But the use of sensors won’t stop there: smart lighting infrastructure will be integrated with sensors to monitor data around a range of variables, from air quality, temperature, and noise through to radiation, precipitation and wind, providing researchers with useful, real-time data which can be used to make important decisions.

The opportunities are boundless, and if there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s that exterior lighting is going to experience a lot of light bulb moments over the next decade.

CFE Lighting, cfe-lighting.co.uk

Moving forwards, we can expect exterior lighting solutions to be adaptable and interoperable