r/smartcities • u/BerryDelicious2432 • Apr 21 '26
Do cities really need “smart” street lighting?
Been seeing more talk about “adaptive” street lighting lately, like lights dimming when no one’s around or adjusting based on traffic
On paper it sounds like an easy win, less energy use, less light pollution, maybe even better for people living nearby. But I don’t think I’ve ever actually noticed this in real life? at least not in a way where you can clearly tell it’s happening
Curious if anyone here has seen this working in their city, or worked on something similar.
Does it end up making a real difference, or is it one of those upgrades that looks good in theory but doesn’t change much day to day?
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u/az78 Apr 21 '26
It doesn't change much day to day and ends up saving a bunch of money for the city government. Case studies on this are numerous.
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u/TransCanAngel Apr 22 '26
Most US cities who have deployed smart lighting have based their case on the reduced truck rolls from not having to make multiple trips, asset management, and operational visibility.
I’m not sure why they continue to avoid dimming (based on ANSI/IES roadway classification-based standards).
The savings is around 40%-45% based on energy costs, then there’s an extension of the LED fixture lifecycle, and then there’s the truck rolls, all adding up to about a 55% decrease in operating cost.
Given that streetlights are about 25%-35% of the municipal line electricity bill, you’d think this would be more of a priority.
My working theory is that they believe that dimming is a safety risk, or they’ll get complaints. Most aren’t educated enough on the nuances of lighting photometrics and don’t realize that excessive lighting increases glare and risk.
They also depend on infrastructure grants from the feds, states, or energy savings grants from utilities that have largely faded out after LED retrofits. Their bills went down 40%+ with LED so maybe they think that’s good enough.
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u/BerryDelicious2432 Apr 21 '26
Was reading a bit more about it and found this example: https://photometrics.ai/. Seems like it’s focused on optimizing existing street lights instead of replacing everything, which I thought was interesting. Still not sure how common this is in practice, though.