Green light

By Lilly O’Gorman
Monday marked the ‘official’ completion of the shire-wide street light upgrade, with the changeover of the globe at the corner of Henty Way and Carney Court, Pakenham.
So far 1854 of the old 80-watt mecury vapours have been replaced with the emission-cutting 32-watt compact fluorescent lights in all residential streets.
While Cardinia Shire Council’s target was for the retrofit of more than 2000 lights, there are still some that are inaccessible to workers and remain unchanged.
Despite the hiccup, electricity distribution company SP AusNet, which delivered the project in partnership with Cardinia Council, is committed to finishing the job as soon as possible.
SP AustNet Central Region Manager Craig Velt said Cardinia Shire was the first council it had helped to execute this street light campaign.
“Cardinia Council is the first cab off the rank for this type of program,” Mr Velt said.
While phasing in the new lights is on the agenda of councils Victoria-wide, many are waiting for state and federal government funding to do so.
The Municipal Association of Victoria launched the ‘Give Our Streets the Green Light’ campaign last month and has the support 56 Victorian municipalities in asking the state and federal government to fund a third of the changeover cost.
Mayor Graeme Legge said the Cardinia Shire wasn’t content to wait, instead investing $350,000 from Cardinia’s coffers to make it happen.
“We are in advance of most councils,” Cr Legge said
“Cardinia Shire Council thought it was sufficiently important to include this in the budget and to take positive action rather than simply talk about it wishfully,” he said.
Mr Velt said introducing the new emission cutting lights sooner would help offset the cost of the investment.
The new lights are 50 per cent more energy efficient and will halve carbon emissions across the shire.
“We trialled a range of energy-efficient lights to find one with equivalent light output to the old lights because community safety is always the key priority when considering different street light options,” Mr Velt said.
Mr Velt said the new lights were also tested for longevity, and require replacement more often than the old models.
However, council’s sustainable environment manager Martin Teplik said energy costs would be slashed significantly.
“By introducing more energy efficient lighting technology, there will be significant savings for the environment and the cost of providing street lighting,” Mr Teplik said.
“In 2005–06, public street lighting in Cardinia Shire produced a total of 2576 tonnes of carbon dioxide – more than 40 per cent of our total greenhouse gas emissions.”