Street lights

Street lights have been part of the landscape in most countries for the better part of a century. First there were gas lamps and later, electric lights. They help light up the roads after darkness falls and make the streets safe for pedestrians and motorists. It is a necessity but somewhat costly exercise.

It does cost quite a sum to keep them lit at night, but we have all seen them shining brightly in all key cities of Sri Lanka during daytime. This is sheer wastage by any yardstick. It seems that no one bothers to turn them off the following morning.

Electricity is very costly to produce, especially in a country such as Sri Lanka which depends heavily on thermal power generation at the moment. This may ease with the operationalisation of more power plants in the near future, but right now, it is not an ideal scenario with regard to street lights. After all, street lights account for 150 gigawatt hours of electricity annually.

Someone has at last done the math - and found that the Ceylon Electricity Board incurs a massive annual loss of Rs 2,673 million on account of the street lights which are not switched off on time. This is a huge sum of money by any standard, which could have been utilized for improving the electricity distribution system especially in rural areas.

Street lights are needed from around 6.30 p.m. to 5.30 a.m. the following day. On the other hand, we see them 'on' almost for 24 hours. Thus the lack of a proper street light management system by Provincial and Local Councils is a heavy burden to the Exchequer and by extension, the public.

It is common knowledge that street lights are maintained by Provincial, Municipal and Urban Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas. Street lights switched on at night are seen burning during the day too in many parts of the country. This is mostly due to the lack of an employee assigned to switch on and off lights. In some instances, there is an employee assigned for this task but he does not carry it out properly.

We have to comprehend the CEB's dilemma in this matter. Even though the CEB management has taken steps to disconnect electricity supplies to domestic and private and State sector consumers defaulting the payment of electricity bills, Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka has directed CEB authorities not to disconnect supplies to street lights as it is a common public service. This is indeed a commendable stance.

Unfortunately, most local bodies seem to have taken this leeway for granted and neglect turning off most of the 700,000 street lights in the country, of which around 300,000 are not even authorized. (There have been some instances of local bodies tapping electricity illegally for street lights).

The Ministry says the public can bring all such instances to its notice. They should also lobby the local bodies to do the right thing and switch off street lights during daytime. The public could lodge complaints against the failure to switch off street lights on hotline 1987 (CEB) or 1910 (LECO).

Apart from requesting the assigned workers to strictly adhere to the on-off schedule for the street lights, there are alternatives that can be explored to solve this problem. One is to fix a simple electronic sensor that detects ambient light and switches the light on and off automatically, without any human intervention. This will activate the light as soon as dusk falls and de-activate it once dawn breaks.

Another alternative is to use more low-wattage, high intensity fluorescent lights, in place of mercury or halogen bulbs which are normally fitted to street lamps. There is an even more advanced technology now "Light Emitting Diodes (LED)" which are slowly becoming commercially available, albeit at a relatively high price. However, they are even more power efficient and longer lasting than fluorescent bulbs. Even though the initial cost is high, the savings will be immense over a few years. This should ideally be coupled with an on-off sensor, but if by any chance that is not fitted and the lights burn throughout the day as usual, the power consumption (and the bill) will be much less. It is up to the experts to explore the feasibility of these technological avenues.

Solar power is another possibility that the authorities should explore. Solar powered lights are already available for commercial and home use and they are not all that expensive either. In fact, there is a stretch of a street lit by solar lamps in Pelawatte, Battaramulla as a pilot project. Payphone providers also rely heavily on solar power, to avoid getting costly mains connections.

Judging by the success of these programs, solar power is a viable alternative to conventional street lights. They have several advantages "they are completely free from the National Grid, solar energy literally does not cost a cent apart from the initial installation cost and is renewable and solar energy is freely available everywhere in Sri Lanka. It does not really matter even if a solar light burns throughout the day" it does not cost anything. The CEB should encourage more local bodies to

take up solar lighting for streets and other public areas and the authorities should formulate a subsidy scheme for the initial installation as solar panels (photovoltaic cells) are still somewhat expensive. Couple a solar panel with a LED or fluorescent bulb and you have a lifelong solution for street lighting. The authorities should engage in a cost analysis covering the entire country in this regard.

However, street lights are only part of the story. At many State institutions, there are other glaring instances of wastage of electricity: fans and air-conditioners keep whirring in empty rooms and lights and computers are kept on day and night. These acts ultimately burden the public. The employees must turn off lights, A/Cs and fans when they leave a room, especially at the end of the working day. They certainly would not leave lights on in empty rooms in their homes (to save on their electricity bill, obviously) "why cannot the same principle apply to their offices ? Saving power should become a national habit" everyone can join in, not just the street lights operator.