Dortmund illuminates: intelligent street lighting for more security!

Dortmund illuminates: intelligent street lighting for more security!

The city of Dortmund has increasingly dealt with the conversion of its street lighting to innovative technology in recent years. A total of 42,000 street lamps on LED technology and digital radio technology have been modernized since 2017, which corresponds to 86% of all street lights in the city. As part of this extensive project, 8,500 old steel pipe pipes were also replaced by new, more efficient masts. The operating service provider Strabeldo, a consortium from DEW21 and Spie says, carries out this measure.

A central advantage of the new lighting is your ability to report independently in the event of disorders and failures. Depending on the location, the light intensities can be adjusted; For example, main roads shine brightly, while forest edges are dimmed. This technology not only contributes to safety in public space, but also reduces light pollution. In addition, the changeover saves around 30% energy solely by the LED technology and another 30% by the individual dimension using digital radio technology.

innovative functions and sustainability

smart digital radio technology and motion sensors offer the possibility to adapt the light on foot and bike paths as required. At the moment, this technology is already installed on 8 foot and bike paths with a total length of over 14 km. Users have control over the light intensity and time via the specially developed "Light Switch" app. The energy efficiency has significantly improved by using reliable, dimmable LEDs. The annual energy consumption of road lighting was reduced from 17.45 million kWh to 8.3 million kWh in 2017, which corresponds to a reduction of 47.5%

The connecting performance of the street lighting has also decreased, from 4.5 megawatts to 3.2 megawatts (30% reduction). Dortmund is pursuing the goal of also converting the remaining 14% of the old street lights until the coming years. There are currently 53,817 illuminated lights in Dortmund with a total of 54,581 lights, of which 47,316 LEDs are.

a global trend in the smart cities

The switch to intelligent street lighting is not only a local phenomenon in Dortmund, but part of a global trend. Cities worldwide recognize the importance of smart street lighting as part of their digital transformation. These systems contribute to improving environmental compatibility and quality of life in urban rooms. Smart lighting systems can serve as a backbone for numerous IoT applications that provide citizens, companies and city administrations.

The advantages extend beyond the mere energy and cost savings. Smart lighting can increase public security, improve connectivity through WiFi hotspots and pave the way for intelligent parking and traffic management solutions. In cities such as Copenhagen and Bristol, significant savings in energy costs and an improvement in security in public space have already been recorded. These examples illustrate how important it is to seamlessly integrate the technology into the urban infrastructure.