Review of the class and quality of street lighting

The methodology included a review of standards and guidance documents, a review of costs of a range of lighting equipment and a survey of local authorities’ policies and specifications.

The report presents the results of the desk study and an analysis of the questionnaire returns.

The cost information was used in a whole-life-cost calculation of the hardware and energy costs over a 30-year life, to compare four types of lighting system. These were conventional HPS lamps with electromagnetic gear, HPS with non-dimming electronic gear, Philips Cosmopolis White lamps with similar electronic gear and an HPS system with electronic gear, part-night dimming and central control and monitoring.

The results showed that most of the authorities specify selection of lighting classes within the range of the current British Standard, but that this standard is relatively inflexible compared to the parallel European document. This may in some cases result in the selection of unnecessarily high lighting classes.

Most authorities have policies on lamp type, but few have policies on dimming, full or part-night extinguishing, central monitoring and control or passive safety.

The WLC exercise demonstrated that although the more ‘advanced’ systems use the least energy, higher initial costs result in WLCs over 30 years being similar. There should therefore be no serious financial impediment to the installation of the more advanced systems.

The report concludes with a set of recommendations which should help local authorities specify optimum lighting for all lighting situations.