Interactive scenario-based assessment approach of urban street lighting and its application to estimating energy saving benefits

If excessive and misdirected, street lighting (SL) causes energy waste and might pose significant risks to humans and natural ecosystems. Based on data collected by an interactive user-oriented method, we developed a novel empirical approach that enables the spatial identification of over-illuminated areas in residential neighborhoods and calculation of potential energy savings that can be achieved there, by reducing excessive illumination. We applied the estimated model to a densely populated residential neighborhood in the City of Tel Aviv-Yafo in Israel, to test the proposed approach’s performance. According to our estimates, illumination levels can be lowered by up to 50% in approximately 60% of the neighborhood’s area, which is currently over-illuminated, thus leading to significant energy savings, while preserving a reasonable level of visual comfort associated with SL.