Is global climate action reaching a tipping point?

May 31, 2021

Is connected lighting key to combatting climate change?

U.S. President Joe Biden’s climate action announcements on 22 April, 2021 - Earth Day – represented the single largest commitment to emissions reductions ever. According to Niklas Höhne, of NewClimate Institute, we may be reaching a global tipping point. "With other big emitters like Japan, the EU and the UK also stepping up, we are now starting to see the kind of near-term climate action the world needs to win the race to net zero by 2050, and keep warming to 1.5°C,” Höhne said. However, he warns that “the gap is still huge,” so there is still a lot of work to be done.

Smart connected systems are uniquely positioned to help businesses and cities participate in climate action initiatives around the world. And they’re essential to achieving those goals. One simple and often overlooked way to get into the sustainability game is connected LED lighting. Are you aware, for example, that lighting consumes around half of a city’s total electricity use? By reducing the energy needed for lighting, connected LED lighting systems can save up to 80% over conventional lighting systems. In other words, energy-efficient lighting retrofits alone can reduce a city’s total energy budget by around 40%.
 

Now that incentive funds and subsidies for green renovations are being made available in the USA, the EU, and elsewhere, the world can’t really afford not to retrofit lighting in the built environment wherever possible. We have the technology. The only question is whether or not we have the will.

But let’s look beyond lighting for a moment—or to be more precise, let’s look at how connected lighting contributes to climate action beyond illumination. Because lighting is already everywhere that people are, connected lighting systems can serve as the perfect platform for distributing Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities that promise to make businesses and cities smarter and more sustainable.