Reviewing the Role of Outdoor Lighting in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

Pedro Tavares, Dmitrii Ingi, Luiz Araújo, Paulo Pinho and Pramod Bhusal
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Pedro Tavares: Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Aalto University, 02150 Espoo, Finland
Dmitrii Ingi: Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Aalto University, 02150 Espoo, Finland
Luiz Araújo: Department of Electrical Engineering, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora 36036-900, Brazil
Paulo Pinho: Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Aalto University, 02150 Espoo, Finland
Pramod Bhusal: Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Aalto University, 02150 Espoo, Finland

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 22, 1-28

Abstract: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim at providing a healthier planet for present and future generations. At the most recent SDG summit held in 2019, Member States recognized that the achievements accomplished to date have been insufficient to achieve this mission. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review of 227 documents contextualizing outdoor lighting with SDGs, showing its potential to resolve some existing issues related to the SDG targets. From a list of 17 goals, six SDGs were identified to have relevant synergies with outdoor lighting in smart cities, including SDG 3 (Good health and well-being), SDG 11 (Sustainable cities and communities), SDG 14 (Life below water) and SDG 15 (Life on land). This review also links efficient lighting roles partially with SDG 7 (Affordable and clean energy) and SDG 13 (Climate action) through Target 7.3 and Target 13.2, respectively. This paper identifies outdoor lighting as a vector directly impacting 16 of the 50 targets in the six SDGs involved. Each section in this review discusses the main aspects of outdoor lighting by a human-centric, energy efficiency and environmental impacts. Each aspect addresses the most recent studies contributing to lighting solutions in the literature, helping us to understand the positive and negative impacts of artificial lighting on living beings. In addition, the work summarizes the proposed solutions and results tackling specific topics impacting SDG demands.

Keywords: outdoor lighting; light-emitting diode; smart cities; sustainable development goals; well-being; human-centric lighting; integrative lighting; efficiency; sustainability; light pollution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:22:p:12657-:d:680560

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