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LEDs are a key part of redeveloping cities to be greener and safer! Here’s what Nottingham city council are doing…

Nottingham City Council managed to secure £7 million from the Government’s Levelling Up fund to replace their tired old halogen street lights with modern LEDs. This may seem like a strange thing to focus on upgrading, but there are absolutely loads of benefits to making the switch that means that money is an incredible investment.

They’ve already replaced 4000 lights since the project began in July 2022, starting in various outskirt neighbourhoods like Clifton and Sherwood and moving inwards. By March 2024, each ward should be ready and enjoying all the perks of LED lighting.

What are the benefits of doing this?

1)     Energy Efficiency

LEDs can be much brighter than their filament bulb counterparts while using a fraction of the wattage.  Nottingham has been aiming to be a carbon neutral city by 2028, and swapping to more efficient appliances is a great way to make that happen.

You may also see some streetlights equipped with little solar panels. LEDs use so little power that solar panels become way more viable. That means each lamppost can be entirely self-sufficient.

2)     Money Saving

Using less electricity makes LEDs a lot cheaper to run, with the council expecting to save about £1.3 million a year purely on energy bills. This entire project will pay for itself on energy costs in about five years. But that’s not all!

See, LEDs are a lot more durable compared to other bulbs and they have really long lifespans, especially when they’re properly managed. Typically they can last for a decade or longer.

That means it’ll be ages before the council needs to look at shelling out for new bulbs, and they won’t need to constantly send out engineers to replace broken bulbs. That’ll save them about £169,000 a year on maintenance costs. That decreases the payback period to 4 years.

3)     Improving Safety

LEDs produce lots of bright light very cheaply, which means neighbourhoods can be kept well-lit. This leads to decreased crime rates by as much as 21%.

One amazing feature of LED lights that often goes overlooked is their high CRI ratings. Objects that are illuminated by high CRI light sources will look more like their true colour. However, there is a hidden extra benefit that comes from high CRI lighting.

As we age, our eyes find it harder to distinguish between various colours, which is part of the reason we can find it harder to drive at night. Higher CRI lighting can help us distinguish various shapes in the dark, and make us much safer drivers.

This is also great for walking home at night, as it helps us find a steadier footing and makes us less likely to slip and fall.

Final Thoughts

All of these benefits will come with minimal disruption to the people of Nottingham. The upgrade is really simple, as LEDs can typically be used with existing fittings. That means they won’t need to replace entire lamp posts, just the bulbs.

There’s no interruption to the power, no digging in the street, you literally just need to change a light bulb. With 34,300 lights to swap out by March 2024, Nottingham will soon be well on its way to a brighter, greener future.

Nottingham city council have seen the light, but you can too! Just give us a call on 0116 321 4120, or send an email over to  cs@wled.co.uk!

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