Indicators of energy efficiency in road and street lighting: a long way to more sustainable cities

Abstract

Public lighting plays a major role in the global figures of energy consumption. Since its final goal is to ensure the safety of people and goods as well as the well-being of its users, it is a clearly basic service. Although the continuous progress in more efficient and sustainable light sources seem to leave a large margin of improvement in terms of energy efficiency, its safety-related peculiarities of public lighting, especially in infrastructures like streets, roads and tunnels, make it a challenge to get good visual performance with minimal energy consumption. Regulations and standards have proposed different coefficients to take account of this efficiency in public lighting with discrete success yet. This work discusses the current situation and presents some proposals with the target of making more sustainable cities without compromising the safety of their citizens.