Street lighting alone accounts for around one to two percent of electricity demand in the EU. At the municipal level, however, street lighting is responsible for up to 45 percent of public electricity consumption.
Poor lighting wastes about a third of the energy consumed, because a proportion of the light does not fall where it is needed. In this context it is estimated that street lighting wastes around five billion kWh per year across the EU. In Austria, about 100 million kWh per year could be saved with the use of more effective lighting – and 15 million euros (at 0.15 euros per kWh) and 6100 tons of CO2 (at 61 grams of CO2 emissions per kWh).
By retrofitting old lighting installations with new technologies such as LED lamps, significant savings – up to two thirds of electricity consumption – can also be made.
Energy-efficient LED street lights can further reduce energy consumption, namely up to 85 percent, through the use of smart control systems or the relatively simple solution of night-time dimming.