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Italian Road Tunnels: Economic and Environmental Effects of an On-Going Project to Reduce Lighting Consumption

Author

Listed:
  • Laura Moretti

    (Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, 00184 Rome, Italy)

  • Giuseppe Cantisani

    (Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, 00184 Rome, Italy)

  • Luigi Carrarini

    (Operation e Territorial Coordination Management, Anas S.p.A., 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Francesco Bezzi

    (Operation e Territorial Coordination Management, Anas S.p.A., 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Valentina Cherubini

    (Operation e Territorial Coordination Management, Anas S.p.A., 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Sebastiano Nicotra

    (Operation e Territorial Coordination Management, Anas S.p.A., 00185 Rome, Italy)

Abstract

Tunnel lighting represents a major cost item for road managers, and particularly in Italy owing to its specific geomorphological and orographic features. In 2018, ANAS, the Italian government-owned road company launched an ambitious program to rehabilitate the lighting systems of more than 700 tunnel tubes across Italy. The Greenlight plan aims to reduce consumption and improve the management of lighting systems while minimizing the impact of works. Outdated high-pressure sodium (HPS) luminaries will be substituted with state-of-the-art light emitting diode (LED) luminaries without modifying the position and the number of the existing luminaires. The project involves an amount of 155 million euros and provides a total return over a less than seven-year period. The first phase of the project involves 147 tubes and is still on-going: 28 GWh (on average 55% of the current consumption) will be saved every year against a 30 million euro investment. More importantly, the economic benefits also have a direct impact on the environment for citizens and safety levels for road users—every year more than 17,000 t of CO 2 eq. and 230 TJ from combustion of fossil fuels will be saved. The lighting quality of the artificial lighting inside the tunnel will be enhanced thanks to better uniformity and the color temperature of the luminaries. The experience presented here could be useful since other road managers may pursue a similar approach in order to balance often-conflicting environmental, economic and safety goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Laura Moretti & Giuseppe Cantisani & Luigi Carrarini & Francesco Bezzi & Valentina Cherubini & Sebastiano Nicotra, 2019. "Italian Road Tunnels: Economic and Environmental Effects of an On-Going Project to Reduce Lighting Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-13, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:17:p:4631-:d:260935
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ferdinando Salata & Iacopo Golasi & Simone Bovenzi & Emanuele De Lieto Vollaro & Francesca Pagliaro & Lucia Cellucci & Massimo Coppi & Franco Gugliermetti & Andrea De Lieto Vollaro, 2015. "Energy Optimization of Road Tunnel Lighting Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(7), pages 1-17, July.
    2. Igor Wojnicki & Konrad Komnata & Leszek Kotulski, 2019. "Comparative Study of Road Lighting Efficiency in the Context of CEN/TR 13201 2004 and 2014 Lighting Standards and Dynamic Control," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-14, April.
    3. Igor Wojnicki & Leszek Kotulski, 2018. "Empirical Study of How Traffic Intensity Detector Parameters Influence Dynamic Street Lighting Energy Consumption: A Case Study in Krakow, Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-16, April.
    4. Giuseppe Cantisani & Paola Di Mascio & Laura Moretti, 2018. "Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Lighting Systems and Road Pavements in an Italian Twin-Tube Road Tunnel," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-18, November.
    5. Saverio Miccoli & Fabrizio Finucci & Rocco Murro, 2015. "Measuring Shared Social Appreciation of Community Goods: An Experiment for the East Elevated Expressway of Rome," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-25, November.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Yuwei Zhang & Peng Xue & Yifan Zhao & Zhikai Ni & Yani Quan & Jingchao Xie & Jiaping Liu, 2023. "A Novel Evaluation Method of Tunnel Access Zone Luminance Based on Measured Meteorological Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-20, February.
    3. Lambros T. Doulos & Ioannis Sioutis & Aris Tsangrassoulis & Laurent Canale & Kostantinos Faidas, 2020. "Revision of Threshold Luminance Levels in Tunnels Aiming to Minimize Energy Consumption at No Cost: Methodology and Case Studies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-23, April.
    4. Sebastian Ernst & Leszek Kotulski & Adam Sędziwy & Igor Wojnicki, 2023. "Graph-Based Computational Methods for Efficient Management and Energy Conservation in Smart Cities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-21, April.

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