Current Projects

Street Lighting Replacement

Planning Started: 2009
Construction Started: Carrying out tests.
Completed: Not Completed

Napier City Council is continuing to weigh up new technology for street lighting on the basis of its whole-of-life cost.

It's a significant undertaking - the Council has started replacing its 80-watt mercury vapour lamps with 35-watt metal halide lamps as they come due for renewal, but with 6000 street lights in the city that's going to be a lengthy programme.

For environmental reasons, the New Zealand Government is looking to follow the lead taken by the USA and Europe in phasing out mercury vapour street lights.

Metal halide lamps produce the same amount of lighting on the ground and provide a savings by more than halving power consumption.

The Council is currently carrying out tests at its Awatoto site on a new type of light from the USA - induction lamps that use electromagnetic current and, the American manufacturers claim, last 100,000 hours.

A lot brighter than mercury vapour lamps, these lights, featuring a circular ring, consume a third to a half of the energy.

The Council is trialling new generation LED lights which are still relatively expensive and have a shorter life than other lighting options.

Road asset manager Jon Schwass says weighing up the pluses and minuses of different forms of street lighting is massively complicated. As an example of that, the Council provides for driver comfort by using yellow sodium lights on the city's most heavily trafficked roads, while more efficient white lights are considered appropriate for residential and commercial areas.