Energy-Efficient Street Lighting Trial Commences
ENERGEX has linked with five South East Queensland councils and the State Government in a $600,000 energy-efficient street-lighting trial.
Brisbane, QLD (PRWEB) November 2, 2007 -- ENERGEX has linked with five South East Queensland councils and the State Government in a $600,000 energy-efficient street-lighting trial. Energy Minister Geoff Wilson joined Maroochy Shire Mayor Cr Joe Natoli and ENERGEX General Manager Chris Arnold to unveil the first set of lights in the trial at the Sunshine Coast town of Seaside.
Maroochy Shire Council is joined by Brisbane City Council, Gold Coast City Council, Ipswich Shire Council and Caboolture Shire Council in the two-year trial.
Minister Wilson said the State Government, the five councils and ENERGEX would share the costs of the trial, which would see mercury vapour streetlights replaced with more energy efficient lights.
"The trial is the first of its kind regarding streetlighting in Australia. It involves the use of sophisticated measuring devices to monitor the performance of the lights," said Mr Wilson. "The scientific rigour and research that has gone into this project and its use of innovation sets it apart from other streetlighting trials. The trial will look how the lights perform in different climatic conditions, from beachside Maroochy streets to frost-prone areas around Ipswich."
He continued, "The trial will also look at how well the streetlights weather the summer storms in South East Queensland. And the trial will also monitor illumination from the energy-efficient lights to ensure they meet national standards and high public safety expectations."
Cr Natoli said the Maroochy Council's energy management strategy was an integral part of council's overall sustainability focus.
"There are no silver bullets in combating the increase of greenhouse gas emissions but as Maroochy currently has 11,000 street lights, this is one of our major projects in addressing the challenges of energy sustainability," Cr Natoli said.
Cr Natoli said it was pleasing that the Council, State Government and ENERGEX were working together on the trials, in a partnership that would clearly indicate the future direction for the streetlight manufacturing industry in an increasingly energy-constrained world.
In ENERGEX's South East distribution area, there are more than 270,000 public lights which in the 2005-06 financial year consumed 132GWh (gigawatt hours) of electricity, and were responsible for approximately 140,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
Public lighting costs South East Queensland local governments around $27.7 million annually in tariff charges.
"I congratulate the councils and ENERGEX for working together on this project, and I look forward to the hard and rigorous scientific data that will be able to show us the best way forward in implementing energy-efficient street and public lighting in Queensland," Mr Wilson said.
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