Agen agglomeration reduces the hourly general light capacity

Agglomeration of Agen is committed against excessive illumination

Excessive lighting, against which the Agen bloc is moving, has severe effects:

On the economic level:

Turning off public lighting for 7 hours a night represents about 2,550 hours of lighting per year. So the proposed termination must be able to allow this Energy savings of more than 50%, or more than 4.1 million kWh, which represents the average electricity consumption of more than 3,700 people. Despite this energy savings, the electricity bill for the Agen agglomeration should increase by more than 330 thousand euros.

On the environmental level:

Maintaining general lighting throughout the night contributes to Global Warming And It disrupts the day and night cycles of plants and animals, because there is no longer a definable night period. Light pollution is the second cause of insect disappearance, and it also causes animals to lose endurance, changes in the ratio of prey and predators, degradation of natural habitats, and even disruption of migratory processes. On plants, it delays leaf fall, deteriorating photosynthesis, disrupting germination and preventing night pollination of plants by mites.

With regard to human health:

Great lighting It disrupts the sleep cycle By reducing the production of melatonin, a hormone that controls biological rhythms and especially the sleep/wake cycle.

Ways to turn off the lights

to all municipalities in the assembly, Three regions have been identified And respond to different extinguishing methods

1. From 11 pm to 6 am. : above the majority of agglomeration again.
2. From 2 am to 6 am: In areas of night activities (bars and places of life) and in high-risk traffic areas.
3. no extinguishing: In areas with cameras without infrared or in areas equipped with photoelectric lights.

In addition, the law requires the extinction of illuminated signs throughout the national territory from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m.

In an Agen conglomerate this roughly represents:

• 11,300 street lamps were turned off from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. (including 3,000 in the city of Agen)
• 2,800 street lights are turned off from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. (including 1,900 in the city of Agen
• 4,200 street lights without turning off (including 1,300 in the city of Agen)
• 700 solar street lights (including 140 in Agen)

In September 2023, a progress report will allow highlighting a preliminary operating report and an accurate financial report.

Until now (03/14/2023), 29 municipalities, That’s more than half of the agglomeration communes, I’ve already hit the switch!

See publication stock (PDF / 31 Ko)

be careful : Any extinction observed before 11 pm should be reported to the Roads and Lighting Department of the Agen Cluster, as it will be an avalanche rather than a scheduled extinction.

Technical implementation of the lights

Electrical cabinets that are not already installed are equipped with specific devices from ” astronomical clock »which allow lighting to be turned on and off according to sunset and sunrise times, as well as to reduce the intensity of lighting.

• The unit supply cost is approximately 350€ per unit
• About 300 cabinets still need to be equipped

For technical reasons, the concerned sectors By turning off the general lighting correspond to All lighting points connected to this control cabinet.

affiliate Technical adaptations within the network A second step can be envisaged in priority sectors in order to better match the lighting off to the challenges of the different areas (installation of sub-outlets in cabinets that allow differentiated lighting, for example).

General lighting in the agglomeration in a few forms

Agen conglomerate has approx 19,000 optical dotsOf which 2,450 complianti.e. LED or modern bulbs, and approx 760 Electrical Cabinet.

In 2022, the operating bill is approximately €2,170,000 including:

• Fleet maintenance: about 750,000 euros
• Electricity bill: 1,420,000 euros

Energy consumption 8.2 megawatts In 2022 consumption represents approx 7,500 people.

Did you know ? There is no connection between reducing general lighting and increasing rudeness!

General lighting is often considered a powerful component of safety. Many reduction projects run into resistance on the grounds of fear of generating more insecurity, which must be taken into account. but, Data from the gendarmerie and insurance companies About the links between security and public lighting speak for themselves:

• 80% Robberies happen during the day.
• 55% Robberies are committed between the hours of 2pm and 5pm.
• 99% Nocturnal crimes and misdeeds occur on fully lit streets (eg: there are more signs under general lighting than in unlit media).

Likewise, according to the comments from similar experiments carried out in a certain number of municipalities, it seems that turning off public lighting at night also has no effect other than road accidents, because on the contrary, it leads to a natural slowdown in vehicles.