A move to reduce carbon emissions from streetlights across Leicestershire has been given an award for its glowing results, with several innovative changes saving the council £2 million.
The county council’s highways team have taken home the prestigious Highway Electrical Association award for Sustainable Project of the Year.
This accolade was given for the installation of low-carbon smart street lighting across the county, which has been developed and installed in partnership with contractor Telensa.
In the past, Leicestershire was lit by sodium lamps, which once produced 44% of all total carbon emitted by the council’s services– that was approximately 15,581 tonnes of co2 per year.
A project to upgrade street lighting in the county to smart, environmentally friendly systems included 69,192 new LED controlled streetlights. As a result, total emissions from street lighting in Leicestershire have been reduced by a massive 84.4% since 2008, to just under 2,500 tonnes of co2 per year.
The LED lights also automatically inform the highways team when faulty, to speed up any necessary repairs.
Councillor Ozzy O’Shea, cabinet member for highways, said: “This award is so well deserved and recognises our high-tech, low emission street lighting network. The impressive reduction in carbon emissions we’ve seen since installation really does speak for itself.”
“We’ve reduced county council emissions by 73.6% since 2008 thanks to our proactive work across the authority and our streetlights project has played a huge part in this brilliant achievement.”
More information on street lighting in Leicestershire is available on our road maintenance page.