Regional Projects - March 2014

And finally, FNQROC co-supported Cairns Regional Council's street lighting guru, Allen Brennan, to catch up with the Ausgrid and Sylvania lighting staff in Sydney last month. Allen tagged along with the guys from Ergon Energy and Townsville City Council to hear how an LED street lighting rollout is being implemented in 41 of the city's local government areas. The key issue that came out of that gathering was that most energy providers take a 'risk management' approach to the introduction of new technology.  Whilst some energy providers have moved forward with installing LED technology, it continues to be a challenge to select a luminaire which will provide the best value for money over what is usually a very large asset base.  With LED lighting evolving so quickly, it's difficult to determine which model to go with.  The overall consensus however, is that LED is the way forward, but for our region this is not likely to happen for at least the next two years.

* Last month we officially changed the title of the FNQROC Sustainability Group to the FNQROC Street Lighting Group – hope this doesn't cause too much confusion.  We will still address any other broader sustainability issues as they come to hand, however our focus will continue to be the reliable old topic of street lighting.