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100,000 LED Luminaires for Milan04-23-15 | News

100,000 LED Luminaires for Milan

Milan, Italy, which is hosting the Universal Exposition (Expo 2015) in May, has retrofitted its road and street lighting with LEDs.

Milan (Milano) is the main industrial, commercial, and financial center of Italy. Situated in the northwest of the "boot" in the Po Valley, Milan has a population of 1.3 million, and a sprawling metro area of 5,264,000 people, about one in six foreign born.

This year, beginning May 1, Milan hosts the Universal Exposition (Expo 2015). The theme of the exposition is sustainable development in keeping with today's innovations in science and technology. One-hundred and fifty-four countries are participating. In sprucing up the city for the exposition, Milan has made a large-scale upgrading of its road lighting to LED.

AEC Illuminazione won the retrofit prize (with regional energy supplier A2A S.p.A.), and has installed 100,000 "ITALO' lanterns.

The city reports the upgrade to LEDs is producing a 51.8 percent reduction of energy costs. Milan's city hall alone stands to save 10 million euros on energy in the first year.

By choosing LEDs, Milan says it will release 23,650 less tons of CO2 and use 60,000 fewer bulbs every year. The new LEDs are not only more efficient, but the lighting is more reliable. The luminaires also concentrate the light emission down toward the streets and pavements, making the lighting Dark-Sky compliant.

The city of Turin, Italy (pop. 911,823), just west of Milan, is also currently retrofitting with LEDs.