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Councils Dim Street Lighting To Spend Less

A story in a national newspaper said that many types of council across the UK are dimming the road lighting in order to save money. The Daily Telegraph reports that one in 10 street lights are gradually powered down through the night or stopped completely in an attempt to save money on energy payments. Many local authorities are having their public spending budgets cut in an effort to reduce the country’s financial obligations and consequently, the councils are now in search of ways to cut costs.

Cllr Peter Box, chairman of the Local Government Association’s Economy and Transport Board, states that at times of challenging financial pressure, councils should look for options to make savings and save taxpayers’ money but without putting the public in danger. He promises that by doing this, it doesn’t influence frontline providers like filling potholes, child protection and collecting bins. And if councils turned down their own pendant lighting and bathroom wall lighting in buildings, they would be able to reduce costs even further.

It is suggested that if UK authorities power down just 9% of their LED lighting they could save a massive £21.5 million per year but the schemes applied to decrease the street lighting is actually priced at five times more than saving and is a staggering £106.3 million, so initially it will be more expensive to save. The expensive schemes comprise of energy used being installed as well as switching lights to part-night operations; nevertheless some councils will not see a return on investment or gain any benefits for almost a decade. But if councils can save money, you could too with their garden lighting and bathroom lighting.

Breakdown cover firm AA has released a caution about the proposition, declaring that considerations need to be considered as well lit areas are usually recommended as a preventative crime measure. But the head of road safety, Andrew Howard, has claimed that dampening the power usage of wall lighting and street lights for part of the evening is a much better choice than removing them completely. Councils have been told by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety that they must monitor traffic in the areas and have a obvious reasoning for softening or powering down the outdoor lighting.

The number of councils across the UK thinking about the plan is growing as well as the number of homeowners with their garden lights or kitchen lighting. Bedford Borough Council is running a trial of temporarily switching off 83-lights between the hours of midnight and 5am to save £383 a year. And Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council has said it intends to dim 4,500-lights between 10pm and 6am for one year too. In addition, Derbyshire County Council has expressed interest in getting involved and turning off lights between the hours of midnight and 5:30am to conserve £400,000 a year; and Leeds City Council is also planning to turn off 8,000 lights over the course of three years. Moreover, Warwickshire County Council has stated it will start to turn off 80% of its 48,500 street lights at the start of 2012.

Nevertheless, many authorities in cities have decided not to become immersed in the scheme or in to darkness with Birmingham, Manchester and the majority of London boroughs not changing off their tiffany lighting. Denbighshire Council in Wales has stated that the payback time is too much and Croydon Council claim that they made the decision never to dim the street lights.

Similar to the councils, you can conserve money on the energy bills too by dimming the chandeliers and wall lights. Make an effort to turn the bathroom lights and kitchen lights off when not being used to be eco-friendly and encourage the children to value how expensive modern lighting rates can be. Many bathroom spotlights can now be bought that are low energy rated.