And the winner of the EUSEW Awards – category Innovation – is

Under the category ”Innovation” the winner is the LIFE-DIADEME project led by AGIRE, the Mantua Local Energy Agency and Revetec Srl, a pioneering company experienced in smart lighting through innovative energy saving solutions.

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LIFE-DIADEME is a LIFE-funded programme that offers a low-cost way to save energy in public lighting while monitoring environmental conditions. By installing networks of sensors across urban areas, the DIADEME project allows for adaptative lighting control and therefore significant energy savings.

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Given that public lighting accounts for upwards of 50% of electricity consumption of most European municipalities, the ability to make savings in this area would be a vital step towards climate change mitigation. By monitoring weather and light conditions in real-time, the network of devices designed by DIADEME are able to adapt light flow accordingly. A saving of 55.0% CO2 emissions can be measured against Full Light LED installations, and of 40.6% compared to existing technologies utilising pre-programmed led installations.

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Two key advantages of this approach to the reduction of CO2 emissions in the public sector are that it is both highly accurate and also low-cost. The first is vital in terms of the public safety function of public lighting: in many instances municipalities are reluctant to implement adaptive lighting technologies for fear of lighting dimming when the conditions are unsafe. The real-time aspect of DIADEME helps to overcome this. 

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With respect to long-term savings, it is estimated that a medium-sized city of 100 000 inhabitants and 12 500 lighting points could save up to 6 644 tonnes of CO2 emissions over 10 years compared to Full Light LED systems, or 3 740 compared to Fully Programmed LEDs. This figure rises to 40 000  tonnes for a larger city such as Rome, with 2.9 million inhabitants and over 200,000 lighting points. In both cases, it is estimated that a return on the investment can be expected in 2.5 years.

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Prizes were awarded by an expert jury (for Engagement and Innovation), and by citizens via a public vote.

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Look at the video of the project..Look at the video of the Awards Ceremony