The time to Act on Energy Efficiency is Now

Connected LED lighting can help confront the energy, climate, and economic crises

The India is confronted with the fact that our buildings, streets, and municipal services are not yet green or efficient enough to successfully deal with the energy, climate, and economic crises confronting them today.

Many initiatives are already in place to expand the renewable energy sources and to develop the connected infrastructure that cities need, but the scope and pace of these programs is falling far short of the wholesale transformation that’s required.

“We have seen a big emphasis on transitioning energy sources and this is still a massive priority, but people are realising that we are running late, and building up that supply of green energy is going to take time,” says Alice Steenland, Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer and member of the leadership team at Signify.

So, there is more and more focus on how you manage the demand side.”

Increasing energy efficiency sits firmly at the centre of this focus. Connected LED lighting, with the potential to reduce lighting-related energy consumption by as much as 80% over alternatives, can play an important role here—not only to address energy efficiency needs in the short term, but to improve quality of life and protect the environment in the long run.

According to Signify’ s own data, if the entire UK&I region switched all conventional road and streetlights to LED, the country could save 603 thousand tonnes of carbon and £520 million per year in energy costs.

Focusing on what municipalities can do is equally important—perhaps more so. As Harry Verhaar, Head of Global Public and Government Affairs at Signify, explains, “At a national level, we need commitments and timelines for carbon neutrality but the real reduction in emissions and the real implementation needs to be at city level,”

Scenarios like these demonstrate that the sum of many smaller-scale projects could have an enormous impact across a country or region.

If you don’t replace such assets today, you end up paying twice: once for much more expensive energy and then again in the future when they need to be replaced”

The time for municipalities to act on energy efficiency is now. Switching conventional, energy-efficient lighting to highly efficient LED and connected LED lighting is an easy win for cities of all sizes. Taking immediate action will help put the our country on the trajectory set out in the Ten Point Plan.