Transforming Lighting, organized by Alfalum, is an event that deals with street lighting, showing its functionalities and a vision of the future. We attended the presentations “Municipal Energy Efficiency: A service to the citizen” and “Round Table on Connected Lighting in Town Halls “, in which the key issues focused on smart lighting, connectivity and energy efficient buildings.
The first of the lectures we attended was “Municipal Energy Efficiency: A Service to the Citizen”, by Francisco Conesa, Director of Energy Efficiency at ACCIONA Service.
Energy costs around 20% more in Europe than in the United States, while gas costs twice as much
Francisco Conesa started his presentation with a piece of information to put the assistants into the current context: street lighting accounts for 15% of the world’s energy consumption. No less important is the number of public buildings in Spain: 300,000. Conesa has considered absolutely crucial to be aware of the impact that these buildings have on our economy and on public services and to find methods to improve their energy efficiency.
As for economics, he has also emphasized the fact that energy costs around 20% more in Europe than in the United States, while gas costs twice as much. This is the main driver for the need to put the focus on energy efficiency, because it allows a more competitive economy in terms of costs.
Francisco Conesa proposed 3 measures through which improvements in the energy efficiency of buildings can be achieved: efficient lighting, energy management systems and efficient air conditioning systems. With the implementation of these systems, and their potential application to 60% of public buildings, 25% of the energy currently consumed could be saved.
Finally, he mentioned the C02 emissions formula raised by Bill Gates. In this formula, the multiplication of People, Services, Energy required by the service and the CO2 per unit of energy, result in the amount of CO2 that we release into the atmosphere. The ever increasing number of people on the planet that results in ever increasing use of services are factors in which we can do little. However, we can take action on the energy required by services through energy efficiency measures and the amount of CO2 per unit of energy can be reduced through the use of renewable energies.
“Round Table Connected Lighting in Town Halls”
The “Round Table Connected Lighting in Town Halls” was made up of Ángel Vera Sánchez, Head of Services Dept. of IDAE; Adolfo Domínguez, Head of Technical Services of San Fernando de Henares Town Hall f; Gabriel Rubí, Head of the Environment Service of the City of Palencia and Gerardo González, Head of lighting and traffic of Toledo Town Hall.
Among the topics raised by the participants, it is worth noting the modernization of installations in the field of street lighting, the acceptance of new technologies, the contact between public agents and the connected lighting technology providers, the importance of the choice of technologies and the role of municipalities in innovation.
In reference to the implementation of new technologies in lighting, Angel Sanchez de Vera explained that the big issue is not the technological barrier, since there is a great acceptance and interest and the technology is good. For him, the difficulties arise because a more active relationship between public agents and suppliers is missing.
Gerardo González presented the case of Toledo, a city that receives a large influx of tourists due to the beauty of its historic center. Years ago, it was found that tourism in Toledo took place only during the day, and that a large part of tourists did not spend the night in the city.
With this situation in mind and with the aim of increasing overnight stays the Toledo City Council decided to refurbish the artistic lighting of the monuments betting on Led technology. This technology, in addition to providing lighting that beautifies and enhances the monuments and buildings, allows great control thanks to the connectivity provided by the remote management systems integrated into the lighting. This allows knowing the lighting status and its consumption at every moment.
