Lighting the way for carbon neutrality

Streetlights in the centre of Adelaide are being fitted with smart technology as it moves closer to its goal of becoming the world’s first carbon neutral city.

Adelaide City Council has partnered with tech giant Cisco and lighting specialist Sensity to modify more than 60 lights along Pirie Street and Hindmarsh Square in the heart of the CBD.

Adelaide City Council Business Solutions Team Leader Sonjoy Ghosh is overseeing the smart city pilot projects. He said the lighting trial would increase energy efficiency and provide insights into maintenance.

“Smart LED lights now allow us to monitor on a light-by-light basis the energy consumption of each of the street lights,” he said.

“It also allows us to program different lighting scenarios such as dimmability with the help of presence sensors. We can detect when someone is walking on the footpath or driving on the streets and we can increase the brightness of the lights when it is needed.

“We will also have remote notifications of when streetlights aren’t working. This will allow us to respond more proactively and it will reduce our overall maintenance costs.”

If the trial is a success, the council will consider rolling the lights out in more areas across the city.

In 2014, the City Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Cisco and the Government of South Australia, which focused on encouraging and supporting local businesses and entrepreneurs to develop and commercialise smart city products and services.

Cisco later named Adelaide as one of seven smart and connected ‘Lighthouse Cities’ in the world and the first in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Lighthouse City status gives Adelaide access to Cisco’s global network and a strategic partnership in relation to the emerging Internet of Things.

Ghosh said the smart lighting trials would begin in the next two to three weeks and would be the first of many initiatives to help Adelaide develop into a leading Smart City.

“We are also trying different smart city concepts such as smart environmental sensors that monitor things like humidity, sound, temperature, carbon monoxide, pollen and dust,” he said.

“We are looking at smart parking technologies, such as in ground sensors around the city.”

“We have been talking to a number of technology companies, both local and international who are interested in what is happening here with smart technology. The journey is just starting but we are open to all possibilities.”

The Adelaide City Council and the South Australian Government are working together to establish Adelaide as the world’s first carbon neutral city.

The partnership aims to achieve carbon neutrality, drive economic opportunities and transform Adelaide into a sustainable 21st century city.

Between 2007 and 2013, the City of Adelaide reduced its carbon emissions by 19 per cent, while Gross Regional Product increased by more than $4 million.

Adelaide Lord Mayor Martin Haese said the South Australian capital was a very connected city and the Council was committed to its partnerships with Cisco and State Government.

“Adelaide was one of the first cities in the world with a large scale public Wi-Fi network and this is critical infrastructure for building smart city applications,” Haese said.

“We have also been pioneers in making Council and State Government data available to entrepreneurs to support the development of new services.

“We have a very supportive ecosystem for entrepreneurs in the city and the launch of the Adelaide Smart City Studio will complement the existing programs to identify new opportunities and make Adelaide the best place to build new smart city technologies and services.”

Image: Flickr, Wayne Grivell