Climate Change Mitigation in Cities by Adopting Solar Streetlights with Energy Management Capabilities: Case of Nairobi

Abstract

This paper proposes the adoption of solar streetlights with an innovative energy management system that makes use of internet protocol cameras to replace existing conventional streetlights. Firstly, a 40W solar streetlight is sized and modeled. Then, the energy management system is designed to control and manage the operation of the streetlight. The energy management system is made up of an Arduino Pro Mini microcontroller. The streetlight is turned ON when the solar panel stops producing and turned OFF when the solar panel starts producing. When the streetlight is ON, the microcontroller begins to read motion information from the IP camera and inasmuch as motion is detected, the streetlight glows at 100%. Otherwise, it is dimmed to 24.1% of its full luminosity and in so doing saves energy. The entire system is designed and simulated using Proteus Professional software. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the energy management system in managing the operation of the modeled solar streetlight. By comparing the energy consumption of traditional High-Pressure Sodium lighting and intelligent solar street lighting, it is noted the savings in electrical energy will reduce greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere and hence positively contribute to climate change.