In 2021, the country released the “Action Plan for Peaking Carbon Dioxide Before 2030.” The plan’s energy-saving, carbon-reduction, and efficiency-enhancing actions call for: implementing urban energy-saving and carbon-reduction projects; carrying out energy-saving upgrades and renovations of infrastructure such as buildings, transportation, lighting, and heating; promoting the demonstration and application of advanced green building technologies; and boosting overall urban energy efficiency.
Cities are becoming greener, and the ecology is becoming more beautiful. To support the concept of green and low-carbon development, improve urban lighting quality, reduce energy consumption, and enhance management efficiency, Jiajiang County has been vigorously promoting smart streetlight energy-saving retrofits since the beginning of this year. Through energy-saving renovations and intelligent management, “green lighting” illuminates low-carbon living.
Streetlights not only illuminate the streets at night but also integrate into residents’ lives with intelligent and multifunctional services, creating a safer nighttime travel environment for residents. This innovative practice is part of Jiajiang County’s efforts to advance smart city development and improve people’s well-being.
Recently, at the Yingchun East Road construction site, reporters observed construction workers busily and orderly removing old lamps and installing smart streetlights. In March of this year, Jiajiang County, Leshan City, Sichuan Province, began implementing a smart energy-saving upgrade and renovation contract energy management project for streetlights. This project retrofitted all 6,693 streetlights in the county. The project included building a smart streetlight management information platform, replacing existing sodium lamps with LEDs, and installing both individual and centralized controllers. Each streetlight and control box was numbered and precisely located, enabling point-to-point precise control, dimming, and intelligent on/off switching of streetlights along sections. This enabled timely troubleshooting, giving each streetlight a “smart brain,” maximizing energy savings while meeting public transportation needs.
“By assigning codes to light poles, each light has its own unique code. Citizens can also conveniently report faulty streetlights by scanning the QR code. The reporting process is simple, fast, convenient, and efficient, allowing citizens to easily participate in streetlight maintenance. Light pole codes can also be used to quickly locate citizens and address their urgent needs.” Xi Lei, Deputy Director of the Jiajiang County Municipal Construction Service Center, told reporters that after the renovation, the lighting on 160 urban roads will be significantly improved, increasing residents’ sense of safety when traveling at night and improving drivers’ visibility, while also significantly contributing to a reduction in traffic accidents.
“In the context of promoting green and low-carbon development, the application of intelligent single-lamp controllers is particularly important. Previously, only lights for a single street or section could be remotely managed at a time. Now, the brightness level of each streetlight can be finely adjusted and controlled in a zoned and timed manner based on actual conditions and citizen needs.” Xi Lei told reporters that this avoids inefficient, one-size-fits-all management, significantly improves the level of refined management and control, and also achieves green energy conservation. The application of intelligent single-lamp controllers makes lighting management more intelligent and automated. Smart single-lamp controllers can monitor streetlight operating conditions, including brightness and on/off status, in real time and upload this data to a professional management platform. This intelligent management approach not only improves work efficiency but also reduces labor costs. Furthermore, during the late hours of the night when traffic is light, a “one-off-one-on” lighting system and multi-stage dimming strategies are implemented. Through these measures, the smart single-lamp controllers significantly reduce streetlight electricity consumption and improve energy efficiency. The implementation of smart single-lamp controllers not only enhances lighting management efficiency, optimizes energy efficiency, promotes green and low-carbon development, but also improves the quality of public services.
According to the “Feasibility Analysis and Implementation Plan for the Smart Energy-Saving Upgrade and Renovation Contract Energy Management Project in Jiajiang County (Draft for Review),” the implementation of the smart energy-saving upgrade and renovation contract energy management project will save approximately 3 million yuan in streetlight electricity bills and approximately 407,100 yuan in maintenance costs annually. This actively supports the national energy conservation and consumption reduction and carbon peak initiatives while also reducing fiscal expenditures.