Street Lighting in Hemyock
- Saturday, July 07 2007 @ 08:51 am UTC
- Contributed by: Paul Steed
- Views: 1,376
The subject of the street lighting in Hemyock came up at the Parish Council Meeting on 4th July.
Andy Ware from Devon County Council gave the Parish Council a briefing on their plans to alter the lighting to reduce DCC’s carbon footprint as they have calculated that street lighting is one of their major contributors to carbon usage. DCC have put money aside to reduce their use of fossil fuels.
The existing lighting intensity would not be affected, as there are Standards that must be adhered to, nor would the number of actual lights, for cost reasons; but there are options to alter the colour and efficiency to achieve dramatic reductions in environmental damage. The production of carbon from electricity generation could be reduced from 31 tons per year to around 20 tons per year, Andy said.
Some of the street lights in Hemyock are 30-40 years old and are in need of replacement anyway, thus reducing the apparent cost, he said. A pilot scheme is going to be run in Hollingarth in the near future.
On top of this there is a further option to switch them off between midnight and about 5:30am to further reduce electricity consumption. This may be more controversial as there are security and safety issues, and it was recommended that consultation should take place before this was implemented.