Road lighting conference draws an international audience

Road lighting conference draws an international audience

New Zealand’s second road lighting conference opened in Auckland today before an international audience of more than 220, including councillors and council staff from around the country, contractors, researchers, government officials, and lighting professionals from a dozen countries.

President of Local Government New Zealand and Mayor of Hastings, Lawrence Yule welcomed attendees to Road Lighting 2015: Smart City Investment saying he was keen to get the message out to councils to “encourage the transformational change” to LED road lighting.

Mr Yule, who is also a Fellow of the Institute of Professional Engineers (IPENZ) said, “LED road lighting could save millions of dollars every year for councils across the country by reducing energy and maintenance costs. It also provides opportunities for enhanced control systems and adaptive technologies that could help usher in the era of smart cities.”

The Chief Executive of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA), Mike Underhill, officially opened the conference by saying, “If New Zealand’s road lights were switched from high-pressure sodium (HPS) lighting to LED road lighting, it would save the country about 100 gigawatt hours of electricity a year – enough to power more than 11,000 homes. This is on top of the significant maintenance and safety benefits.”

He said LED is a rapidly-evolving technology and EECA has been working with Local Government New Zealand and the NZ Transport Agency to make sure barriers to the uptake of LED road lighting have been identified and addressed.

Road Lighting 2015 conference organiser, and managing director of management consultancy Strategic Lighting Partners (SLP) Ltd, Godfrey Bridger, said, since the inaugural conference in 2014, the regulatory environment had changed to encourage New Zealand councils and road controlling authorities to make the switch to LED road lighting.

“Many people are now more interested to find out how LED road lighting saves energy and money, reduces accidents and street crime, and provides a digital platform for smart city developments,” said Godfrey Bridger.

He said conference speakers had been drawn from around the world for their expertise, knowledge and experience in digital lighting technologies.

The Minister of Transport and Minister of Energy & Resources, the Hon Simon Bridges will open the second day of the conference tomorrow (Tuesday 10 March.)

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