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

Laura Moretti, Giuseppe Cantisani, Luigi Carrarini, Francesco Bezzi, Valentina Cherubini and Sebastiano Nicotra
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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

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 17, 1-13

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 Outdated high-pressure sodium (HPS) luminaries will be substituted with state-of-the-art light emitting diode (LED) luminaries without modifying the position and the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.

Keywords: road tunnel; lighting; LED; road management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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