Paris puts a spotlight on urban lighting at COP21

The City of Paris and EVESA, the organisation in charge of urban lighting in Paris, have implemented a series of energy efficient lighting demonstrator projects for COP 21, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which was held in the city from 30 November to 11 December 2015.

One of the highlights of this is the new lighting on the Rue de Rivoli, the symbolic centre of the French capital, where 640 lamps have been fitted with LEDs.  Old lamps of 120 W have been replaced by 19 W LEDs, saving 274 MWh and 26 tonnes of CO2 emissions. The historical ambiance of the Rue de Rivoli has been preserved by retrofitting warm golden white LEDs (2700 Kelvin) into the 19th century bronze lamps that line the street. The project has resulted in overall savings of 84 % in energy consumption compared to the previous lighting.

Other initiatives include before and after on-site demonstrations illustrating the benefits of new energy efficient lighting technologies around the Paris City Hall, as well as a presence detection lighting pilot along the banks of the River Seine.

Learn more about the demonstrator projects here

Since 2011, the City of Paris has put in place an Energy Performance Contract (EPC) for its urban lighting with the company EVESA which aims to reduce the city’s overall urban lighting electricity consumption by 30% by 2020.

 

 

 

Photo credits: (c) Yves Chanoit