Lighting the Baltic Sea Region – Cities accelerate the deployment of sustainable and smart urban lighting solutions

LUCIA

PROGRAMME 2014-2020

priority

2 Natural resources

objective

2.3 Energy efficiency

LUCIA

LUCIA helped municipalities in the Baltic Sea region save energy by the deployment of smart urban lighting solutions.

Project summary

New lighting solutions for cities

Urban lighting plays an important role in the city design in the Baltic Sea region. In fact, 60% of the overall energy consumed in urban areas is attributed to street lighting and other urban lighting, e.g. for infrastructure. Modern LED lighting has energy savings potential of 50% compared to conventional systems. Other functionalities, such as an automatic adjustment of luminosity, additionally raise that potential. The project LUCIA introduces such lighting solutions into urban planning, and by this helps municipalities reduce energy consumption.

Innovate through piloting

LUCIA run five pilots, which took into consideration insufficient knowledge on the lighting technologies, financial constraints, policy gaps and lacking involvement of citizens. LED energy efficient lighting was installed in six cities: Albertslund (Denmark), Hamburg (Germany), Jurmala (Latvia), Porvoo (Finland), St. Petersburg (Russia) and Tallinn (Estonia). The replication potential was then evaluated by metropolitan regions of Copenhagen, Hamburg, Riga, Helsinki-Uursimaa, St. Petersburg and Tallinn. An online urban lighting centre was set up to connect managers responsible for lighting in cities around the Baltic Sea in order to exchange experiences on planning procedures and selection of urban lighting solutions.

Budgets

LUCIA
in numbers

3.11

Million

Total
2.17

Million

Erdf
0.28

Million

Eni + Russia
0.00

Million

Norway

Achievements

Cooperation accelerates the deployment of intelligent solutions

LUCIA brought together municipal and regional public authorities and experts from 7 countries of the Baltic Sea region. The piloting cities provided the sites for testing new technologies, while the experts advised the municipalities to get sufficient information on urban lighting solutions and make installations. Together, policy makers, urban planners, experts, public managers as well as citizens and interest groups geared up the deployment of sustainable and smart urban lighting solutions. Co-creation, engagement in urban planning processes and interest in improving the living environment shaped the needed conditions for a change.

Inspiring cases of urban lighting installations

The installation of modern LED lighting in 6 cities was as a tangible result of how the project helped transform urban lighting into smart and sustainable. Pilots focused on walking and cycling areas to promote active mobility.

In Jurmala (LV), existing high-pressure sodium street lighting on Jomas street was replaced with LED solution with dimming and motion sensors. As a result, 40% energy was saved. In Albertslund (DK), existing light points located in DOLL Living Lab were upgraded with motion detection technologies. This improved the site energy savings, safety and security, as well as light quality. In Hamburg (DE), the Elbewanderweg and the Schröders Elbschlosstunnel feature now new lamps which respect rare animal species in the area. The pilot was characterised by a participatory decision process with citizens. In Porvoo (FI), LED lightning was installed on a pathway along Porvoonjoki, which improved connection between city residential area to service areas, reducing car traffic. In Tallinn (EE), LED lightning in the Canute Garden and in St Petersburg (RU) LED lightning in the campus of the Peter the Great Polytechnic University featured functional and artistic systems, which well match with the historical surrounding areas. In the Tallinn pilot, the project secured 47% reduction in energy consumption.

Outputs

Booklet on lighting in urban development

The booklet delves into the different themes, which should be taken into account in the planning and preparation phases of projects for urban lightning: strategy and goals, cultural heritage, circular lighting, the smart city, technology and data, urban planning, the planning process, cooperation and safety. The booklet builds on experience and knowledge from the partner cities. It provides cases from each city, each of them working with intelligent lighting in urban spaces in different ways. The booklet is for urban and lighting planners, as well as managers and engineers. It inspires the users to work closer together in the early phases of projects dedicated to the integration of intelligent lighting for the benefit of citizens.

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Knowledge Centre

The LUCIA Knowledge Centre is a 2.0 resource centre and a collaborative forum to exchange information, questions, and good practices on urban lighting. It can be used by all urban lighting professionals, like city representatives or light designers, to have access to information on sustainable and smart lightning. Social cohesion; Economic models; Technologies and solutions, and Lighting strategies are the categories of available resources. Via the Centre, users can connect with the urban lighting community, share their lighting projects, get inspiration and feedback. The users have access to the LUCI Hub, a wider knowledge base on urban lighting with the outreach to over 600 contents including 250+ presentations, 160 news articles, 20+ research publications, and more.

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Compendium “Lighting cities of the Baltic Sea Region”

The compendium is a comprehensive documentation on LUCIA pilot activities. It is for use by urban planners, city lighting managers and decision makers. The compendium contains six chapters, each reflecting one central topic related to a pilot: supporting technologies, public spaces – municipalities - people, local business-active citizens – public areas, innovation and tradition, unlocking creativity designing public areas. Each chapter includes a presentation of the pilot site covering the aspects of planning, co-creation, design, construction, evaluation, and summary. The compendium inspires and encourages decision-makers to switch to energy-efficient lighting systems.

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Factsheets collection

The factsheets collection consists of a package of 4 categories of factsheets: Economy factsheets, Planning and procurement factsheets, Social acceptance factsheets, Technology factsheets. They are concise and specific in providing knowledge in smart and sustainable urban lighting, for professionals in the urban lighting sector. The Planning and procurement factsheet, for instance, includes 5 factsheets: on Public Private Innovation contract model, on sustainable purchase, on EU Green public Procurement guidelines, on how to get started with green public procurement and on the key criteria for a green lightning system. It hence covers the whole process of how to develop, procure and implement green and smart lighting infrastructure projects.

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