Could singing lamp-posts combat crime?
New ‘smart’ lighting for streets
SOOTHING music could soon be playing from speaker systems attached to state-of-the-art lampposts in an attempt to reduce violence on Scotland’s streets.
The radical idea is just one of a number of initiatives due to be discussed during talks this week between the Canadian company behind the venture and local authorities who are keen to adopt cost-saving measures at a time of massive cutbacks to public services.
The meetings will be primarily to consider installing ‘smart’ LED lighting systems across the country.
Other options include fitting the speaker systems as well as pollution detectors, dimmer switches, CCTV cameras and electric car chargers on every lamp-post.
Representatives of Vancouverbased Every Watt Matters (EWM), which has provided its pioneering systems to NASA and global giants IBM and Goldman Sachs, are understood to have received the support in October of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who recommended they meet local councils.
US CEO George Blackstone will be in Scotland for the meetings, due to be held between tomorrow and Thursday. Mr Blackstone said: ‘The technology has been advancing very rapidly and, as well as providing illumination, there are a number of features that can be added to streetlight systems.
‘There are schedules to conserve energy by dimming lights between certain periods like sun rise and sunset. In Guatemala City, our lights operate at 50 per cent from midnight to sunrise.
‘If street lights go past a factory that has environmental restrictions on stack [chimney] emissions, we can put sniffers on street light poles that can monitor what comes out of the stacks and if stacks send out more than they should, then it sends signals to a control centre.’
He added: ‘We can also build CCTV into the lighting systems and have been doing this in Guatemala for security and safety purposes. It is possible to put CCTV in every lighting post, though perhaps economically impractical, although we do recommend having them at critical intersections and areas of the city where crime is prevalent.’
The company is also able to provide wifi, electric charging posts for cars and speaker systems in their lamp-posts.
Mr Blackstone said: ‘We could effectively also put speaker systems on lights to provide soothing background music for citizens and help reduce violent behaviour.’
The company hopes if its plans are adopted it will create hundreds of jobs in Scotland.
Leo Flores, head of EWM’s UK division, said: ‘This is an answer to local authorities who are running out of money while the big six are putting prices up.
‘According to Scottish Enterprise there are 900,000 street lights in Scotland at a cost of £43 million a year. We can reduce energy costs by 75 to 80 per cent.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We are focused on growing our economy to unlock innovation and encourage new businesses to invest in Scotland.’
‘Technology has been advancing’