Sustainable Public Lighting in Australia

What this Toolbox does

To accelerate the uptake of sustainable public lighting technologies and practices, the Sustainable Public Lighting Toolbox is a ‘one-stop-shop’ which enables councils to access:

Technical reports and information on trials and options
Taking Action guidelines, tools and case studies
State and National information on public lighting regulations, projects and contacts.
News and Events to keep up-to-date with sustainable public lighting.

The Toolbox replaces the former Sustainable Public Lighting Information Hub. It provides information relevant to a wide range of public lighting applications including major and minor road lighting and other public lighting types. If you can't find something that was previously available there, email us and we'll point you to its new location.

Recent additions to the Toolbox

Technology Star Rating Table - A comparison of available street lighting technologies for residential streets
Four new case studies on regional groups working on public lighting in the following state pages:
Article LED lighting – saint or sinner for Australian and New Zealand street lighting

Subscribe to public lighting bulletins

Subscribe to the SPL mailing list for regular national e-bulletins and the Victorian Bright Sparks publication.

Contribute to this site!

Other councils in Australia want to know about your trials, project updates and other initiatives, however large or small. Please email us your news and information to be added to the Toolbox.

What's new in public lighting?

Environmental Lighting Forums
Sylvania Lighting Australasia is holding forums around Australia.

Victoria, Darebin's friendly fauna lighting
The Edwardes Lake Park Project uses custom designed lights with glare shields to minimise spillage into the wetland area. The technology also uses a switching system that allows for a staged shut down between midnight and 5am.

Brisbane, Solar bike path lighting
Council is installing stand alone solar lights and cat's eyes on bike paths throughout the city.

NSW Grant opportunity
The Public Facilities Program provides $30 million for water and energy saving projects in facilities in NSW which are open to, and frequently accessed by, the public. As well as delivering water, energy and greenhouse gas emission savings, the program aims to showcase technologies in action to encourage uptake by the wider community.

Victoria, AER releases final decision on OMR
The Australian Energy Regulator has released its final decision on operation, maintenance and repair charges for energy efficient public lighting.

NSW, Sydney LED trial underway
Expressions of interest for the City of Sydney LED trial closed in December. The project attracted a high response rate from lighting industry representatives, many of whom have gone on to provide additional information to the City to assist in the final decision making process. Applications will be evaluated and the City is expected to choose an industry partner(s) to complete the trial over numerous sites.

Victoria, Darebin trials induction lights
In a bid to hasten the transition to sustainable public lighting the City of Darebin is using its own site to trial induction lamp technology as a possibility for retrofit into decorative poles moving into the future.

National, Standard Amended to include efficient street lights
The Australian Standards Committee (LG-002) recently approved the alteration for the standard to allow the approval of low wattage technologies such as T5s and CFLs. This alteration will simplify the design process for local councils in new developments.

More news >>

The Sustainable Public Lighting website was created by ICLEI Oceania. Funding for this website was provided by the Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO) in the Department of Environment and Water Resources. The site is based on Sustainability Victoria's Energy Toolbox website.