Page 42 - Energize June 2021

TECHNICAL

is only as good as a municipality’s ability to manage, operate and
maintain it, thus influencing its service to the public.
Some risks that may affect a municipality may include limited
financial budget allocation; the inability to pay for energy, material
purchases and other expenditure; having limited or inoperable
tools, equipment and plant to carry out the work; not having
adequately trained and skilled personnel; shuffling of management
due to the changeover of leadership which may result in the
changing of directives; accuracy of inventory of the assets
installed; various types of material stocked for maintenance and
repair purposes, poor quality assets installed and possibly the
way in which the management, implementation and operational
processes are carried out on a day to day basis.
For the public lighting infrastructure to evolve with
advancing technology and changing community demands,
especially if it is to merge with IoT systems and be used
to assist in growing and advancing a municipality, new
strategies and plans should be developed and implemented.
Continuing the journey to the sustainability of the public lighting
infrastructure, a municipality may consider developing a set of
sustainable public lighting guidelines. Figure 5: Streetlight with IoT capabilities
Although similar guidelines may exist within some
municipalities, where some municipalities have adopted the public lighting service would transform this sustainable single service
recommended practice guidelines of ARP 035, it remains crucial into a sustainable and multi-discipline service that may enable a
that these guidelines should evolve and support a sustainable, municipality to advance into a more sustainable and efficient entity
intensifying and progressing public lighting infrastructure. that may better serve the general public.
These guidelines should also consider the various demands of By integrating various services into a sustainable and adaptable
communities, which vary from municipality to municipality. public lighting infrastructure, public places and road reserves no
longer need to become additionally congested with new surface and
A look to the future underground infrastructure. This would avoid additional obstacles
The efficiency and quality of a municipality’s sustainable public that may otherwise reduce public safety and a municipality’s ability
lighting service could be seen as the municipality’s advancement into to efficiently sustain and gain access to other services.
the fourth industrial revolution. By implementing even small initiatives, The importance and potential of the public lighting infrastructure
a more sustainable public lighting infrastructure may be obtained. As should not be underestimated. The public lighting infrastructure
sections of the public lighting infrastructure become efficiently and should be considered a financial investment, the earlier one begins
reliably sustainable, there exists the potential of merging IoT systems to invest, the greater the return on investment. This could be
with the infrastructure. The integration of various services into the secured through the implementation of responsible initiatives and
strategies that promote a sustainable and efficient quality public
lighting infrastructure. These initiatives and strategies should be
developed from a well-structured and evolving set of sustainable
public lighting guidelines. Through responsible sustainability
and adherence to these guidelines, an adaptable public lighting
infrastructure may evolve to support other services and sources of
revenue generation for a municipality.
By bringing sustainable light into darkness, communities may
no longer have a sense of isolation. This sustainable light may
promote the upliftment of the emotional wellbeing of a community
and may improve the status and visual perception of an advancing
municipality. Where municipalities can be seen to be developing and
advancing, these municipalities are seen to be more inviting to those
looking to reside or invest within a municipality. Thus, sustainable
and efficient quality public lighting could ignite the possibilities of
developing and advancing municipalities, communities, industry,
businesses, families and individuals to an improved state of wellbeing
or smart city status worthy of the fourth industrial revolution. n

References on request
Contact Bjorn Smidt-Hart, SMEC South Africa, Tel 083 346-7146,
Figure 4: Park illuminated at night bjorn.smidt@smec.com

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