Abstract
Investing in the optimal measures for improving the energy efficiency of urban street lighting systems has become strategic for the economic, technological and social development of cities. The decision-making process for the selection of the optimal set of interventions is not so straightforward. Several criticalities-such as difficulties getting access to credit for companies involved in street lighting systems refurbishment, budget constraints of municipalities, and unawareness of the actual energy and economic performance after a retrofitting intervention-require a decision-making approach that supports the city energy manager in selecting the optimal street lighting energy efficiency retrofitting solution while looking not only based on the available budget, but also based on the future savings in energy expenditures. In this context, the purpose of our research is to develop an effective decision-making model supporting the optimal multi-period planning of the street lighting energy efficiency retrofitting, which proves to be more effective and beneficial than the classical single-period approach and has never before been applied to the considered public lighting system context. The proposed methodology is applied to a real street lighting system in the city of Bari, Italy, showing the energy savings and financial benefit obtained through the proposed method. Numerical experiments are used to investigate and quantify the effects of using a multi-period planning approach instead of a single-period approach.
Highlights
Energy consumption for urban street lighting has assumed considerable importance in the energy and economic balance for many cities [1,2]
The effects of using a multi-period approach instead of a single-period approach are investigated in the context of the street lighting energy retrofit planning in Bari, the capital city of the Apulia region
We focus on the strategic energy management of the public street lighting system, where the city energy manager has been addressing the following typical planning problem: selecting a set of retrofit actions over a pre-defined planning horizon to improve the energy savings of a district public street lighting system, given an initial investment budget
Summary
Energy consumption for urban street lighting has assumed considerable importance in the energy and economic balance for many cities [1,2]. It is widely recognized that public lighting is a sector characterized by excessive and disproportionate energy consumption compared to the quality and functionality of the service offered to the citizen This implies the need for tools to improve the energy performance of urban street lighting, such as new technologies, professionalism and analytical/design skills [4]. A study carried out by ENEA (the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) reports that the “energy wastage” of urban street lighting systems in Italy currently accounts 30% of consumption on average [4]. This highlights the role and potential of energy efficiency processes of street lighting systems, in terms of environmental performance (due to reduction of energy consumption and emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere), and in terms
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
