The Growing Need for Outdoor Lighting Connectivity

Outdoor lighting is a central element of urban planning, enhancing community safety, supporting economic activity and supporting accessibility needs. However, traditional lighting systems often struggle to underpin the changing needs of a community. They often lead to excessive energy consumption, increased carbon emissions, and unnecessary light pollution.

Our UrbaSens Civic Connect system offers a new approach to outdoor lighting management by providing cities and towns with a scalable, data-driven solution that optimises energy usage, enhances safety, and supports environmental sustainability. As the demand for more connected cities grows, integrating advanced lighting connectivity systems like UrbaSens Civic Connect has become an incredibly effective way of enabling us to respond to changing community needs.

Europe currently loses 30% of its light output to light pollution, equating to €3.3 billion in wasted energy costs and 21 million tons of CO2 emissions annually. Managing the balance between necessary illumination and environmental sustainability is a challenge for urban planners. Too much light negatively impacts biodiversity and can be a significant factor in excessive use of energy, while insufficient lighting can lead to a community feeing less safe, increased crime rates and a weakened nighttime economy.

The UrbaSens Civic Connect addresses this challenge by providing time-based analytics and control over individual and specifically grouped light points. By leveraging data-driven insights, municipalities can fine-tune their lighting schedules, reducing unnecessary light output while maintaining optimal visibility for pedestrians and motorists.

Traditionally, outdoor lighting systems functioned on a simple binary schedule—lights turned on at dusk and off at dawn. However, modern smart lighting solutions offer far greater flexibility. Through Zhaga connectivity and IoT-based network integration, UrbaSens Civic Connect enables a wide range of lighting control options, from dimming schedules to presence-based illumination. Whether you want to target effective energy savings and biodiversity preservation or prioritise a communities feeling of a safe and vibrant environment then you can customise the system to your unique needs.

This technology ensures that urban lighting systems are not only responsive to the community’s needs but also contribute to a lower carbon future. The ability to monitor and adjust lighting levels in real time means that energy savings of up to 80% can be achieved, significantly reducing municipalities’ carbon footprints while cutting operational costs.

Effective urban sustainability initiatives are often the result of strong partnerships. Thorn Lighting’s collaboration with DarkSky, a leading advocate for reducing light pollution, has led to the development of technologies such as NightTune. This innovation, combined with UrbaSens Civic Connect’s advanced control capabilities, allows municipalities to implement lighting solutions that protect biodiversity while maintaining high-quality illumination where needed.

One of the primary concerns of any city or town is ensuring the safety and comfort of its residents. Street lighting plays an important role in shaping public perception of security, reducing crime rates, and improving traffic safety. UrbaSens Civic Connect provides municipalities with real-time connectivity and fault notification alerts, ensuring that any issues are promptly addressed.

By integrating features such as motion sensing and energy reporting, the system allows for dynamic lighting adjustments based on motion. This enhances safety while reducing unnecessary energy consumption. Additionally, technologies such as group triggering can be used so that pathways and streets are illuminated in a way that improves visibility without causing excessive light pollution.

Data is at the core of modern urban infrastructure management. UrbaSens Civic Connect offers municipalities detailed analytics on lighting performance, energy consumption, and space utilisation. The system includes features such as:

• Weekly Calendars for customised scheduling.
• Sensor Heatmaps for analysing pedestrian and traffic patterns.
• Luminaire Status Reports for up to date fault detection to support maintenance operations.
• Energy Monitoring to measure and optimise sustainability efforts.

By leveraging these insights, municipalities can make informed decisions that enhance both the efficiency and effectiveness of their outdoor lighting infrastructure.

One of the standout features of UrbaSens Civic Connect is its adaptability to different urban environments. The system is designed for seamless deployment across various spaces, including:

• Large Towns: Enables centralised management of widespread lighting networks, optimising energy usage and sustainability goals.
• Car Parks and Transportation Hubs: Provides enhanced security by adapting the light in context to the space.
• Residential Roads: Balances energy savings with safety and comfort, adapting to community needs through advanced scheduling and NightTune integration.
• City Centres and Public Spaces: Supports vibrant nighttime economies while maintaining responsible illumination levels for improved civic pride.

The era of traditional, static lighting systems is coming to an end. Connected urban lighting management systems are paving the way for more sustainable, safer, and cost-effective cities. By implementing Thorn’s UrbaSens Civic Connect, municipalities can harness the power of data and advanced lighting control to create a brighter, more sustainable future for their communities.

See our Sarajevo Case Study here

Read more about UrbaSens Civic Connect here