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Globally, lighting accounts for about 15 per cent of all electricity consumption. We project this will decline to 8 per cent in 2030 while over the same period the global tally of light points will have increased by 50 per cent to 70 billion. Simply adopting LED in place of incandescent lighting would reduce energy consumption by a massive 53 per cent and CO2 emissions by 1,400 megatons by 2030. Moreover, innovation brings benefits beyond energy efficiency. Looking at lighting specifically, around one in seven of the world’s population (some 1.1 billion people) are trapped in light poverty because – cut off from the grid – they have no access to electric light. As a result, they are forced to use alternatives such as kerosene lamps and candles to light their homes – which claim an estimated 1.5 million lives every year through respiratory illnesses and fires. But off-grid solar LED lighting solutions can help to end this injustice, at a fraction of the long-term cost of kerosene or typical infrastructure, while stimulating social and economic development as communities are brought out of the dark.However, in all these cases what can hold the development back is the initial up-front cost. The cheapest individual lightbulb to buy remains the incandescent bulb – yet viewed over any length of time, it becomes the most expensive.It is also extremely limited technology. In contrast, LEDs can now be embedded with sensors and intelligence so they can be connected wirelessly and managed remotely via the internet. This connected lighting for smart buildings and smart cities can further boost the initial energy savings by up to 80 per cent. The benefits of this connected technology can be measured in much greater terms than simple energy savings. Businesses can enable employees to personalise their lighting and temperature at their workspaces via a smartphone app, with associated improvements in both productivity and employee well-being. In addition, building managers can receive real-time data on how the office is being used, how much space is required, and how to optimise the space they have. The benefits of connected lighting can be seen on a city-wide scale. For instance, the City of Los Angeles has converted 140,000 street lights to LED and has 110,000 nodes connected and managed through a Philips Lighting CityTouch connected street lighting management system. Not only does this allow the city to remotely manage and monitor the lighting, acoustic sensors can be used to detect vehicle collisions and thus reduce the emergency response time. Other benefits (when comparing a number of cities that implemented connected LED streetlighting) include a 21 per cent reduction in night-time traffic accidents. Buenos Aires is another city that has retrofitted its street lighting system with connected LED lighting, creating a safer, more welcoming environment to improve the quality of life of its residents, while also saving 50 per cent in operating costs. Better lighting can also have a significant impact in schools. In a year-long trial in a French primary school, a new system that allows the teacher to optimise the classroom ambience found that reading speed increased by 35 per cent, while frequency of errors dropped by nearly 45 per cent and hyperactive behaviour by 76 per cent. All of these factors can provide a major boost to children’s enjoyment of their school day and their ability to learn.“THE BENEFITS OF CONNECTED LIGHTING CAN BE SEEN ON A CITY-WIDE SCALE ”“WE NEED A PARADIGM SHIFT – SLIGHTLY REVISED CAPITALISM OR MODERATED SOCIALISM ARE NOT GOING TO SUFFICE ”