Smart Light Concepts

Smart public lighting

LED lights in every street lamp in the city centre that is on the World Heritage List of UNESCO. Lamps that dim at night and turn on when people cycle or drive past. In the European research project Smart Light Concepts (SLIC), researchers from Avans University of Applied Sciences and Portsmouth University explore, together with city and provincial authorities in 4 countries (Belgium, France, the Netherlands and United Kingdom), different solutions for reducing carbon emissions from public lighting.

Webinar: SLIC Dutch National conference

On Thursday 28 January 2021 Etten-Leur and Avans University organised the Dutch SLIC National Conference. Kees van Aert, Alderman for the Public Area of Etten-Leur, Paul Stamsnijder (Reputation Group), Marco Sodderland (Motivaction) and Arthur Klink (Public Lighting Netherlands) shared their experiences and knowledge on stakeholder engagement and public lighting. In its rural areas, the municipality Etten-Leur has investigated how to create as much support as possible among citizens for the renewal of street lighting. Over the past 2 years the municipality has gained important insights and experiences how to engage with its citizens and Mr. van Aert shared these insights with a larger audience during the online national conference.

National conferences are part of the European Smart Light Concepts (SLIC) project, funded from the Interreg 2 Seas program. The partners from the different countries will organise their own national conference. The national conference in the UK took place in March 2020.

In the project, 9 European partners work together to increase the use of sustainable public lighting concepts and carbon reduction.

The recording of the Dutch National Conference can be watched via YouTube. The language is Dutch.

Recording Dutch National Conference

Pilots

Amiens Métropole

Amiens Métropole

Within the SLIC project, Amiens has chosen to install public LED lighting in an existing shopping and industrial area. This commercial zone is mainly used by motorised traffic. But there is also a bicycle and pedestrian path in the area that will be lit smartly by using movement sensors. The research focuses on finding the right system dynamics for the lighting.

Bruges

Bruges

Bruges has decided to replace the 2700 traditional lanterns in the historic city centre with new lanterns with LED luminaires that look exactly like the old lanterns. After all, the city centre is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. In addition, the municipality will conduct tests for the possibilities of static and dynamic dimming with energy network company Fluvius.

Etten-Leur

Etten-Leur

The Dutch municipality of Etten-Leur is replacing existing public lighting with smart LED lighting in 26 streets of the municipal outskirts. The municipality has explicitly involved residents, entrepreneurs and road users in the pilot. The goal is to work with them to find the optimal mix of light intensity and safety experience in traffic and at home.

Mechelen

Mechelen

Within the SLIC project, the city of Mechelen and the Belgian grid operator Fluvius are focusing on the (automatic) generation of the correct dimming schedules for a specific road section in the Coloma district. The time of year and traffic conditions determine the dimming of the public lighting in the pilot area.

Roeselare

Roeselare

The pilot of the Belgian municipality of Roeselare revolves around new smart lighting for a bicycle path, a stand-alone installation separate from the electricity grid. It uses solar panels for power generation and a battery for the storage of electricity. The lampposts along the cycle path are equipped with motion sensors, so they switch on the LED armatures when people are cycling past.

Suffolk

Suffolk

The English county of Suffolk is installing a multidata sensor system for public lighting along busy roads. This connects motion and temperature sensors directly to a data lighting hub of the street lighting. The aim is to reduce the costs of public lighting, traffic control and road maintenance, while at the same time reducing CO₂ and other harmful emissions.

Veurne

Veurne

The SLIC pilot of the West Flemish Communale (WVI) is experimenting with smart public lighting in the city of Veurne, on the site of a former sugar factory where a new sustainable urban district is being created. There are 2 parts to the project: dynamic LED lighting along the 2 cycle paths and LED lighting in a new business park and the existing industrial area.

Research themes

Finance

A crucial element in implementing low-carbon public lighting (PL) technologies is the availability of financial means to invest in sustainable PL-technologies and systems and to calculate the maintenance costs during the runtime of the investment. In close co-operation between the financial researchers and all other pilot partners different methods of funding and investment are being examined, described and discussed.

Technology

The aim of the SLIC project is to calculate the added value of technologies that lead to low-carbon public lighting in the built environment. The research theme Technology focuses on monitoring and evaluating the technical side of the design of the 7 pilots. In addition, the researchers at Avans offer support to their colleagues at the University of Portsmouth to set up the Decision Support Tool (DST) for sustainable street lighting as optimally as possible.

Stakeholders

Stakeholder engagement is one of the research themes within the SLIC project. The main question is: which stakeholders should be involved in experiments with smart public lighting, and in what way?

Safety

The built environment can no longer be imagined without public lighting. Public lighting contributes to social and road safety. Good lighting ensures that people can oversee the traffic situation and / or that pedestrians or cyclists feel safe enough to be on the street in dark conditions. Scientists disagree whether lighting in itself can contribute to improving social safety. More research is needed how the design of public lighting can help people to feel safer or have a better traffic overview.

Knowledge articles

Traditional lanterns fitted with LED

City of Bruges and Fluvius renew 2700 'Bruges Lanterns'

News: Pilot Amiens Métropole end 2020 operational

Amiens Métropole plays with light

Article: Future thinking for smart lighting

Future thinking for smart lighting

Article: Etten-Leur opts for smarter light

Article: Etten-Leur opts for smarter light

News: Citizens Etten-Leur happy with new lighting

Citizens Etten-Leur happy with new lighting

News: Off-grid public lighting Roeselare ready

Cycle path Roeselare with off-grid public lighting opened