Final countdown: one week till Smart Lighting Summit

There’s only one week to go until Australia’s Smart Lighting Summit, with smart and sustainable lighting as a central theme on the agenda, convenes in Melbourne from 6–7 September.

With endorsement from the City of Melbourne and support from Lighting Council Australia and IESANZ, the summit is set to feature both locally and internationally renowned lighting experts and speakers, highlighting the latest trends and developments within the lighting sector.

Bringing together over 150 key lighting industry stakeholders, with lighting industry professionals including engineers, architects, manufacturers, public sector representatives, road authorities, consultants and lighting designers, the summit affords delegates the opportunity to comprehensively explore the future of smart lighting in Australia and around the globe by looking at international industry parallels and experiences.

The quality line-up of presenters includes Regional Development Australia Northern Inland (RDANI) Senior Projects Officer – Northern Lights Project David Thompson; Washington DC Smart Outdoor Lighting Alliance (SOLA) Executive Director Bob Parks; and Light and Culture Program Advisor Rik van Stiphout from the City of Eindhoven, where multinational corporation Philips was founded 1891.

Eindhoven, the Netherlands’ ‘city of light’, is considered to be at the forefront of energy and lighting innovation infrastructure. It is one of the first cities in Europe to develop its urban lighting system into an integrated ‘smart light grid’ in an effort to conserve energy and increase efficiency.

Eindhoven’s lighting vision has paved the way for public lighting ideas and research to be put into practice. The city’s ‘Strijp-S’ area now boasts light-enabled bus lanes and pedestrian crossings as well as easily adaptable public illumination scenes implemented on main streets. The area has quickly developed into one of the most sought-after investment areas in the city.

According to Stiphout, “Lighting is not only in the DNA of our city, but also in the people. In order to become a real, lasting, sustainable city, one has to dare to look into the future… not only [at] the environmental or cost-saving side of it.” Stiphout will deliver a keynote presentation on the City of Eindhoven’s smart street lighting journey at the Australian Smart Lighting Summit.  

Reinforcing the commitment to developing innovative and intelligent lighting solutions, Ironbark Sustainability Business Manager Alexi Lynch forecasts LED as the future of energy-efficient lighting in Australia. Large-scale LED projects have already been effectively implemented in Victoria, where only seven out of 79 councils have not yet undertaken an LED changeover.

“We’ll see more LED projects replicated throughout Australia and more states and councils wanting to jump on board,” he said.

While “smart controls and cities are the flavour of the month”, Lynch believes that project innovation is key, with Ironbark Sustainability eager to replicate successful residential LED street lighting projects in areas where there has been a lack of progress, especially in Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland, which will enable councils in these states to cut their energy expenditure and costs.

“It’s an exciting time to be in the lighting industry, with massive projects already completed and more exciting projects to come.”

Following the remarkable success of the 2015 Australian Smart Lighting Summit, this year’s event will discuss smart lighting, smart cities and the Internet of Things.

The summit will also concentrate on exciting international projects such as Singapore’s Smart City Lighting Master Plan, presented by Lighting Planners Associates Principal Lighting Designer Kaoru Mende. Mende said the trend of urban lighting in night environments has evolved to see safe, beautiful, comfortable and eco-friendly cities.

Wellington’s intelligent street lighting solutions will be presented by Wellington City Council’s team leader in Strategic Planning, Transport & Waste Operations, Paul Glennie.

Closer to home in Adelaide, Australia’s first intelligent street lighting trial project will be under discussion from Adelaide City Council’s team leader in Business Solutions, Sonjoy Ghosh. Summit sponsor NEC is working jointly with the University of Adelaide to roll out this project.