At the Seventh APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Energy Ministers Meeting (EMM-7) in Gyeongju, Korea, ministers encouraged APEC economies to adopt further measures to promote energy efficiency and conservation, directed the APEC Energy Working Group (EWG) to identify best practices to assess efficiency improvements, and further directed the EWG to support capacity building efforts in this regard. At the Eighth APEC Energy Ministers Meeting (EMM-8) in Darwin, Australia, energy ministers directed the EWG to “improve energy efficiency by sharing information on energy efficiency policies and measures.” At the nineteenth APEC Ministerial (Sydney, Australia, September 2007), ministers welcomed further work by APEC member economies to “share experiences on the range of economic policy instruments for promoting energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction.” This goal was also endorsed in the APEC Leaders’ Declaration on Climate Change, Energy Security, and Clean Development (Sydney, Australia, 9 September 2007).

At their meeting in Sydney, APEC Leaders set an aspirational goal to reduce energy intensity by at least 25 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. As noted at the Ninth Energy Ministers Meeting (EMM-9) in June 2010, “improving energy efficiency is one of the quickest, greenest and most cost-effective ways to address energy security, economic growth and climate change challenges at the same time.” Accelerated deployment of energy efficient street lighting is one significant mean for economies to achieve their energy savings potential.

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are increasingly the technology of choice for street and outdoor lighting applications in the growing towns and cities of APEC economies, as they use only about half as much energy as conventional sodium streetlights, and they can last for up to 50,000 hours, or over 11 years of use (at 12 hours per day). But large scale LEDs deployment presents a number of practical obstacles. This report’s intent is to examine and present the best practices world-wide for putting such technologies in place, which can help to accelerate the introduction of highly efficient lighting, thereby helping to reduce electricity needs and associated carbon emissions in APEC economies.
With the continued trend of urbanization, energy efficient street lighting will be a priority for both developing and developed APEC economies. The United Nations has projected that globally, the portion of people living in cities will grow from 45 percent in 2008 to 56 percent by 2030. This move towards cities is particularly focused in developing economies, which had been less urbanized in the past. Cities account for 70 percent of global energy consumption, of which 15 percent is attributable to street lighting, so street lighting in cities accounts for roughly 10 percent of overall global energy use. Since LEDs are about twice as efficient as conventional streetlights, they have the potential to reduce overall energy use by up to 5 percent. Their potential contribution to energy efficiency and greenhouse emissions reductions is substantial. Combined with solar cell arrays or other renewable energy resources, they can bring low-impact lighting to remote villages and islands of APEC economies that are not connected to power grids.

This Report and Best Practice Guide on LED Street and Outdoor Lighting was produced as part of APEC’s SOLLIA (Street and Outdoor LED Lighting Initiative – Asia). The objective of this initiative is to develop a best practice guidebook for the use of highly-efficient LEDs for street lighting and other public outdoor lighting needs as well as compile information on LED street and outdoor lighting standards in APEC economies.