Having lighting is an important factor in day-to-day life but uses vast amounts of energy. Here are some ways to reduce their energy use.

Lampposts are used to illuminate public areas but are normally either on or off dependent on when it is dark. Smart technology can be used within these to only provide light when movement is sensed or to reduce Lumosity dependent on how bright the area is.

Aberdeen city council installed intelligent street lighting around the city in 2019, which can be remotely controlled, for example after an event has finished, the lights in the area can be turned to full brightness. They predicted that energy costs would fall by £900,000 a year, due to less electricity being required for illumination [1].

Data collection is vital for reducing our impact on the environment. Smart technology can change the way we collect this data. It can be used to detect traffic patterns as well as energy and water usage both in the home and workplace. The smart technology can also be used to automatically create charts and infographics to help visualise the data for a user to further their understanding. The U.K. Government collects data on major road use and publishes this every quarter, there is also a further study carried out every 10 years for minor roads [2].

Smart thermostats allow the temperature of an area to be controlled from anywhere using an application on a smart phone. Another feature can be detecting what the outside temperature is and only engaging the heating system when this drops below a predetermined level. This leads to a reduction in the fuel that is needed to heat the water [3].

Extension leads can have technology in them allow them to detect low power usage and cut power to sockets that have devices on standby. This helps to reduce overall electricity usage, but specifically, during the day when televisions are usually off, if there is less demand on the national grid, there would less reliance on fossil fuels to generate the electricity [4].

Smart irrigation systems for home and farms can be automated to detect how much rainfall there has been and average temperature to decide if and how much water to use. They can also detect the moisture content of soil. This is more so impactful in agriculture where water usage is very high, especially in areas that have volatile climates [5].

Smart shower systems can be installed which help to reduce water wastage by letting you know how long the shower has been running as well as saving on the energy required to heat the water. This not only helps reducing the impact on the environment but can also reduce utility bills [6].

Smart technology can be installed in large appliances such as boilers or fridges in the home or larger items in a commercial setting. These devices allow diagnostics to be ran with much higher levels of detail, and therefore stop an appliance and relay information as what has gone wrong. This can be done before any damage is done to the appliance and the part is replace, meaning much less is sent to landfill or energy used to recycle them [7].

A new style of public transport is being trialled in areas of the U.K. where buses are placed on flexible routes. The passenger selects their nearest bus stop, and a bus will arrive, while an algorithm works out the best route and pick up more passengers to take to their destinations. This means that buses will not be driving with little to no passengers on board and also less buses needed to be driving. This will help reduce emissions from buses, especially in city centres. An example of this is the Tees Flex service implemented in the Tees Valley by Stagecoach buses [8].