London to Get 14,000-iPad Controlled Street Lights

By Jane McEntegart
published

Smart lights to save on energy and repair costs.

A council in London, UK is set to install 14,000 street lights that can be controlled via iPad. West London Today reports that following a successful pilot scheme, Westminster City Council is to replace all of its street lights with smart street lights over the next four years.

When the council is finished, all 14,000 street lamps will be controllable via iPad, and engineers will be able to tell technicians when they're broken or in need of replacing. In addition to this, engineers can alter the brightness via an iPad app. The system, which West London Today says is the first electronically monitored lighting infrastructure in the UK, will be able to detect when one of the street lights in the network is likely to fail.

The scheme is expected to cost in excess of three million pounds, however, it's thought this cost will be recouped in energy and maintenance savings. The council expects the scheme to have paid for itself in years. 

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Jane McEntegart
17 Comments Comment from the forums
  • keither5150
    Someone just lost their job to an ipad.
    Reply
  • vaughn2k
    Just wondering if this technology is available for all. Imagine how many people with iPad can control these lighting, and play with it, hmm..
    Reply
  • djscribbles
    At first, I thought they meant traffic lights....
    Reply
  • safcmanfr
    Waiting for someone to hack the application, and to set up a street rave party with flashing street lights!
    Reply
  • pyoverdin
    The scheme is expected to cost in excess of three million pounds, however, it's thought this cost will be recouped in energy and maintenance savings.

    Then why did they start with one of the most expensive and difficult to repair devices to do this? Some cheaper tablets and a lot of mobile phones are just as capable, but with smaller screens.
    Reply
  • santiagoanders
    This story is stupid. Get clicks because it says iPad. Smart lighting has nothing to do with Apple. I'm sure there will be more than one option for controlling the lights.
    Reply
  • john_4
    Lived in England for 4 years and they are as bad as the US idiots in charge, That is these politicians waste more tax payer money on stupid ideas or use it to buy crap from friends to make them rich, sad.
    Reply
  • shiftstealth
    john_4Lived in England for 4 years and they are as bad as the US idiots in charge, That is these politicians waste more tax payer money on stupid ideas or use it to buy crap from friends to make them rich, sad.

    Try moving to Greece, i hear things are going well there.
    Reply
  • Onus
    santiagoandersThis story is stupid. Get clicks because it says iPad. Smart lighting has nothing to do with Apple. I'm sure there will be more than one option for controlling the lights.Exactly. The control system just happens to have a browser interface, which will run on an iPad. I'm sure it runs on Android also, or anything else that can run a web browser.
    Reply
  • bigdog44
    What's an iPad? Is it a larger flatter version of an iTampon? I hear they also come in minis and soon heavy-flow...
    Reply