New analysis of the power usage and therefore environmental impact of streetlighting suggests that councils can reduce their carbon footprint by 13 tonnes of CO2 per mile if they switch from traditional lamps to LEDs.
Based on statistics that show an LED uses just 40% of the electricity of a traditional lap of similar effectiveness, Highways News has calculated that each 125W LED lap uses 520kWh per year, based on an average lit duration of just over eleven and a half hours per day.
On a standard dual carriageway, with two lamps every 40 metres, this works out as using 41,600 kWh per year, which amounts to an equivalent emission of CO2 of 8.8 tonnes of CO2 per mile per year.
With equivalent lighting using traditional lamps using two and a half times as much power, and therefore causing 22 tonnes of CO2 to be emitted per mile per year.
The overall saving is therefore more than 13 tonnes. This reduction is the equivalent of planting around 500 trees every year, based on the independent environmental solution advisers Encon’s estimation of 31-46 trees needed to be planted to offset each tonne of CO2.
(Picture – Essex Highways)
