Street lighting upgrade to LED lights
Contents
Overview
To reduce our carbon footprint, we are in the process of replacing South Tyneside's current streetlights with LED lighting.
Timeline
We started installing the new LED lights in 2015.
The first phases replaced 4644 of our 250-watt streetlights with 86-watt LED lights in these areas:
- Victoria Road, Hebburn
- A194 Leam Lane
- John Reid Rd
- Jarrow Road
- York Avenue
- King George Rd
During 2020 / 21, we are replacing a further 2700 in these areas:
- A183 Coast Road
- A184 East Boldon Front Street
- Whitburn East Street
- Town centres
Benefits of LED lights
- Less stray lighting, for example into people's homes and bedroom windows
- Whiter light, which improves the appearance of colours under the lights (the colour temperature is 4000K)
- Considerably lower energy use, typically 70% reduction
The actual energy consumption for LED lights depends on the type of road, for example lights on major trunk routes are brighter and use more energy.
How LED lights work
The lights are controlled by a sensor called photocells. The sensor is on each street light column, so each light switches on when it gets dark, then switches off shortly after sunrise. There is no communication between the streetlights and no central management system (CMS).
The LED lights:
- do not use 5G technology
- do not contain any communications technology
- do not transmit signals
The streetlights are designed and selected by Balfour Beatty's design team. They use specialist software to plot the light distribution and make sure it meets the requirements for the location and type of road.
The streetlights are regularly inspected and tested, to make sure the correct light levels are maintained.
Technical information
Most of the Council's LED lanterns are manufactured by Thorn Lighting in Spennymoor, County Durham.
They meet all required BS, EN and IEC standards.
To see the Thorn Civiteq technical information, go to Thorn Lighting: Cost-effective LED road lighting.
The streetlight photocells are manufactured by Royce Thompson (Oasis 1000 35 lux type).
To see the Royce Thompson technical information, go to Royce Thompson: Technical guide.