More than 18,207 lights on the city’s roads and housing estates have been upgraded to LED lighting - leading to a 70% energy saving per lantern and an overall energy reduction of 30%.

This year, Cork’s city centre, among other locations, will be the focus of Cork City Council’s public lighting crews with an estimated 2,000 LED lanterns to be upgraded leading to improved public space and safety.

The aim of the LED upgrade programme is to provide consistent public lighting design, maximise energy savings, reduce CO2 emissions and enhance efficiency across the network by replacing traditional sodium lamp lanterns with more energy efficient LED lanterns.

Significantly, the public lighting upgrade, which began in 2021, has resulted in a CO2 reduction of 360.56CO2t.

Last year, Cork City Council began an ambitious 10-year plan to renew its 25,500 public lighting assets, including ongoing LED installation and the replacement of 11,500 lighting columns in housing estates, primary and secondary public roads.

This project will require significant once in a generation funding to allow Cork City Council to fully replace life expired assets to ensure a reliable and uninterrupted public lighting network.

Aidan Mahony, Senior Executive Engineer of the ITS Section said “ a lot of good work has been completed by the team, but there are significant challenges facing the public lighting network”.

“Essential works are urgently required to ensure that degraded assets are replaced to ensure residential estates remain fit for purpose for future generations of the city. This will require financial resources, the understanding of residents, the support of stakeholders/contractors and a significant resource from ESB Networks to deliver the plan successfully,” he said.

James Kenneally, Executive Engineer, Public Lighting Operations said “Cork City Council are very proud of the energy saved through the LED lantern upgrade programme. This success has been achieved through a close working relationship between the Council’s public lighting team and its public lighting maintenance contractor Electric Skyline. Cork City Council hope to continue this good work through their 10-year public lighting column refurbishment project which commenced last year. This project will be a generational project that will future proof the public lighting network in Cork City for many years to come”.

All work will be undertaken to ensure the public lighting network is in compliance with current Irish and European standards such as IS:10101 and EN:13201 and will be carried out in line with environmental best practices.

If a member of the public would like to report a faulty light lantern, they are encouraged to visit either the Cork City Council public lighting webpage or use the link provided below: Deadsure.com/Cork City Council