Melbourne named 2017 Intelligent Community of the Year

Along with its long-running standing as the world’s most liveable city, Melbourne has claimed the title as the 2017 Intelligent Community of the Year, conferred by the Intelligent Community Forum. Smart lighting plays a crucial role in the city’s smart-enabled landscape with more works now underway to futureproof Melbourne’s lighting domain. 

Since his presentation at the Australian Smart Lighting Summit 2016, Ironbark Sustainability’s Business Manager Alexi Lynch has seen a plethora of changes in the smart control street lighting domain. Councils have moved beyond the innovator phase of technology adoption to an early adopter phase where more mature discussion can transpire concerning smart lighting controls and smart cities, says Lynch.

Public lighting guidelines, policies and strategies set out by councils are increasingly taking into consideration smart city elements, controls and networks with the Federal Government’s $50m Smart Cities and Suburbs Program investment.  

Technology trials and pilots are underway in most major centres with Victoria leading the way, in an Australian-first, network-wide, smart street lighting system for councils that includes thousands of smart-city enabled LEDs for Melbourne.

The City of Ryde is a notable case study as the fourth largest CBD in Australia located in an local government area with residential and city smart controls installed over two years ago.

Anthony Ogle is the Asset Systems Manager for the City of Ryde, responsible for the operations of city roads, streetscapes, street lighting, stormwater and local civil infrastructure for the City of Ryde.

Since 2002, the City of Ryde has seen public street lighting through public domain upgrades with Multi-Functional Poles (MFPs) by developers as well as underground metered circuits. The Council is currently converting existing MFP’s to LED with smart controls.

The work of Dr Fred Watson, Head of Lighting and Environment at the Australian Astronomical Observatory, raises awareness of light pollution concerns associated with LED lighting.

Dr Watson will be presenting at the Summit which also plays host to Ironbark Sustainability’s Managing Director Paul Brown among a range of local and international lighting specialists who will profile major developments in the lighting sphere.

Following his well-received appearance at the Summit in 2016, Washington DC’s Smart Outdoor Lighting Alliance Executive Director Bob Parks is presenting up-to-date information on quality public lighting design at the 2017 edition of the Summit. Parks showcases real-world examples to emulate, as well as those to avoid.

Florida Power & Light is undertaking one of the largest smart street lighting projects in the world. The utility is expected to implement nearly half a million networked energy-efficient LEDs with 75,000 lights already installed. Florida Power and Light’s Principal Lighting Engineer, Joe Hancock, reflects on the challenges in delivering North America’s largest street light control network.

Instrumental in the provision of Auckland Transport’s inventory of 105,000 street lights which represent a third of all those in New Zealand, Technical Principal of Lighting Design from New Zealand Opus International Consultants, Andy Collins, delivers a trans-Tasman perspective on energy efficient street lighting.

Australia’s premiere symposium on smart lighting, smart cities and the Internet of Things, the 5^th Annual Australian Smart Lighting Summit underscores the industry’s commitment to developing innovative and intelligent lighting solutions. The Summit takes place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on the 13^th and 14^th of September 2017.

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