Carlos Montes Calgary Real Estate

BBC Team Looks at the Impact of Calgary Envirosmart Streetlights on its Environmental and Financial State

BBC Team Looks at the Impact of Calgary Envirosmart Streetlights on its Environmental and Financial State

Reflecting the international interest on the use of Calgary’s EnviroSmart Retrofit Program is its coverage by journalists from the television production outfit British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).The "Inside Out (South East)" program team are looking into how the southeast England has been affected by light pollution and what can be done to lessen its impact in the environment as well as the performance of the city.

According to Keir MacKenzie, show producer and director, light pollution has a major effect in Britain. This sort of widespread influence makes it a timely issue for discussion. The show is interested in taking a look at the steps Calgary has done to reduce the waste of energy and take advantage of the night sky.

Calgary is the first city in North America to have a comprehensive program to use low wattage residential streetlights and flat lens fixtures to reduce the operating costs. Other cities across North America and Western Europe are following in the use of the new EnviroSmart streetlights.

The Traffic Manager for the City of Calgary’s Transportation Department, Troy McLeod, has said that the new streetlighting system is effective in saving money and keeping the city safe. The program answers the need to balance having effective streetlights that can keep the roads safe for motorists and pedestrians and at the same time, provide more environmentally responsible options.

The streetlighting project is the result of the efforts of many organizations. This includes the Calgary Police Service, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, Climate Change Central as well as the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. The process took about eight years before the retrofitting of the streetlights was accomplished.

The success of the EnviroSmart Streetlight Retrofit Program has made it into a showpiece in the efforts to reduce light pollution. Ultimately, it has the effect of lessening the impact on the environment by reducing energy consumption, the emission of carbon dioxide, and lessening the sky glow.

Since the streetlights have been retrofitted with the new equipment in 2002, Calgary has had a savings in energy of 107,000 MH, a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions of 124,000 tons, and a savings of $11 million. In fact the program has worked so well that Calgary is interested in pursuing other technologies that will accomplish the same goals.

The City of Calgary is no stranger to the attention provided by the use of its EnviroSmart Streetlight Retrofit Program. Aside from being the focus of a feature by BBC, it has also garnered the attention of several prestigious organizations. This pioneering streetlighting program has received an award from the Astronomical Society of Canada, the Calgary Awards, the Alberta Emerald Foundation for Environmental Excellence, and the Natural Resources Canada.

Aside from local awards, the program has been given special recognition by international bodies such as The International Dark-Sky Association, the American Public Works Association as well as the the prestigious Dubai International Best Practices Awards.

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