The missing link in a city’s path to smarter street lights

(Greentech Media, 24 Jun 2016) To optimize the money and energy they spend lighting their streets, cities need a lot more data. These MIT researchers have figured out how to get it.

Before cities can upgrade and optimize their street lighting, they have to know where it's located and how it's performing. Scientists at MIT have developed a new sensor system to cheaply collect this data, which few governments currently have comprehensive access to.

Urban leaders are starting to unlock the benefits of "smart" lighting : replacing old bulbs with more efficient, networked LEDs that can be programmed to suit the needs of the location. These can save money and electricity by turning on when they detect people nearby, instead of running all night over empty streets. They can also modulate their brightness based on the time of day, instead of simply running at full strength or turning completely off.

To maximize this potential and ensure that streets have just the right amount of lighting where they need it, governments first have to have a detailed inventory of their lamps, including attributes like location, height, bulb type and brightness. That's proven surprisingly hard to achieve.

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Greentech Media, 24 Jun 2016: The missing link in a city’s path to smarter street lights