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Furthermore, we need to connect efficiency and ICT in the accelerated renovation of our infrastructure to maximize the benefits.In the policy arena, we need to move from policies that optimize individual product performance towards policy frameworks that focus on connected technologies for smart buildings and cities.As for financing, we need to move from ‘looking for funding’ to financing mechanisms where the future savings and benefits are used to take away initial investment and renovation budget hurdles.Last but definitely not least, in communication we need to move away from explaining sustainable development as an acceptable sacrifice that saves the planet, to advocating this as the most attractive and equitable pathway to a more prosperous and inclusive 21st century we all deserve.The good news is that everything needed to achieve the savings required already exists. All we have to do is connect the dots. LED lighting is a perfect example. Globally, lighting accounts for about 15 per cent of all electricity consumption, which we project to decline to 8 per cent in 2030 while the global tally of light points will have increased by 35 per cent to 60 billion at that time. Simply adopting connected LED lighting would reduce energy consumption by a massive 53 per cent. That is only the starting point. 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 those savings to up to 80 per cent. So, connected LED lighting is a form of energy efficiency that pays for itself in cost savings. Our products such as CityTouch and InterAct Office can contribute greatly to boosting energy-efficiency of governments, municipalities, offices and others. Consider for a moment that there are around 300 million streetlights across the world. Only about 10 Left: His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, inspects the Dubai Lamp, the world’s most energy efficient commercially available LED lampBelow: The Indonesian capital of Jakarta has undertaken one of the largest connected street lighting projects in the world, upgrading nearly 90,000 streetlights with LEDsRight: The Niagara Falls Illumination Board has been upgraded from the previous Xenon lighting system to LED lighting to enhance the visitor experience and gain a 60 per cent energy savingper cent of them are LEDs and just 2 per cent are connected. The opportunity to create energy savings is immense. Realizing this a growing number of cities have adopted connected LED streetlighting: Buenos Aires, London and Los Angeles, just to name a few. In the past year, the Indonesian capital of Jakarta has undertaken one of the largest connected street lighting projects in the world, upgrading nearly 90,000 streetlights with LEDs; while in Dubai, the Dubai Lamp Initiative has been developed in partnership with Philips to help households and enterprises reduce electricity used for lighting by up to 90 per cent through replacing conventional lamps with the world’s first commercially available 200 lumen per watt LED lamps.Beyond the opportunity to realize financial savings and reduce environmental impact, there is also a strong humanitarian need for adopting cleaner, energy-efficient technology. The most compelling example of this is the fact that there are more than one billion people around the world trapped in ‘light poverty’. Cut off from the power grid, they have little or no access to electric light. As a result, these people have little choice but to use kerosene lamps and candles to light their homes – hazardous practices that claim 1.5 million lives every year through respiratory illnesses and fires. Off-grid solar LED lighting solutions can help to end this injustice – at a fraction of the cost of kerosene or similar fuel, it stimulates social and economic development as communities are brought out of the dark.Lighting is a great example of the opportunities offered by new technologies, which makes LED lighting and its energy saving promise not just our business, but everybody’s business. Let us accelerate the transition to a better future and work together to achieve the magic 3 per cent. It is a legacy that we can create for generations to follow and it is a gift that is ours to give. ■040 INDUSTRY INTRODUCTION