Public lighting accounts on average for 41% of local authorities' electricity consumption and 37% of their electricity bill, according to ADEME (the French Agency for Ecological Transition). With around 9 million light points in France, controlling it has become a major lever for energy sobriety, biodiversity protection and quality of service for citizens.
Two levels of smart public lighting control coexist. Cabinet-level control acts on all the luminaires connected to the same electrical cabinet, usually a street or a neighbourhood. Light-point control allows each streetlight to be commanded individually: dimming, presence detection, failure reporting. Between these two approaches, local authorities must choose according to their lighting stock, their budget and their regulatory obligations, in particular the order of 27 December 2018 on light pollution.
IoT platforms such as Kuzzle IoT and the Kuzzle Hypervision urban hypervisor make it possible to unify these two levels of remote management within a single tool, whatever the equipment manufacturer.
Contents
- What is the impact of public lighting on biodiversity and public health?
- Which standards and local constraints govern public lighting?
- Which public lighting control projects has Kuzzle delivered?
- What are the different types of streetlights?
- Total switch-off of public lighting: good or bad choice?
- FAQ on public lighting control
What is the impact of public lighting on biodiversity and public health?
Artificial light at night is recognised as a form of pollution in its own right. Since Law No. 2016-1087 of 8 August 2016 for the recovery of biodiversity, article L110-1 of the French Environmental Code has included "night landscapes" in the nation's common heritage.
What are the effects on wildlife and plants?
A large share of animal species live at night. Poorly controlled public lighting causes several imbalances:
- Insect attraction and mortality: a streetlight acts as a trap, disrupting nocturnal pollination and the food chain.
- Barrier effect: some bat species avoid lit areas, which fragments their hunting grounds.
- Disorientation of migratory birds and young sea turtles on coastlines.
- Disruption of plant cycles: flowering and leaf fall are shifted near light sources.
To address this, many territories are deploying dark corridors (trame noire), the night-time equivalent of green and blue ecological corridors. Light-point control is decisive here: it makes it possible to dim or switch off only the luminaires located along an ecological corridor, without plunging the whole neighbourhood into darkness.
What are the risks for human health?
In its 2019 opinion on the health effects of LEDs, ANSES (the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety) highlights that evening exposure to blue-rich light disrupts the biological clock and melatonin secretion. Possible consequences include poorer sleep and circadian rhythm disorders. The Agency recommends limiting light intrusion into homes and favouring warm colour temperatures.
Public lighting control acts on three health levers:
- Colour temperature, chosen at installation (2,700 K or 3,000 K maximum).
- Intensity, modulated by dimming according to the time and footfall.
- Exposure duration, reduced by night-time switch-off or presence detection.
User safety, the other public health issue
Reducing light must not compromise road safety or pedestrians' sense of safety. That is the whole point of adaptive lighting: the luminaire stays at a low level and ramps up as a pedestrian, cyclist or vehicle passes. The Kuzzle smart public lighting platform also enables remote emergency switch-on in the event of an incident, at the request of emergency services or the municipal police.
Which standards and local constraints govern public lighting?
Public lighting control falls within a precise legal framework. Remote management at light-point or cabinet level is often the simplest way to prove compliance, thanks to the history of schedules and lighting levels.
Which laws apply?
- French Environmental Code, articles L583-1 to L583-5: derived from article 173 of Law No. 2010-788 of 12 July 2010 (Grenelle II), they establish the principle of preventing light pollution and empower the minister to set technical requirements.
- French Environmental Code, articles R583-1 to R583-7: they define the categories of installations concerned (road lighting, heritage, car parks, construction sites, signs, etc.).
- French Environmental Code, article L110-1: it recognises night landscapes as common heritage (2016 biodiversity law).
- Order of 27 December 2018 on the prevention, reduction and limitation of light pollution: the technical reference text, amended in particular by the orders of 29 May 2019 and 24 December 2019.
- French General Local Authorities Code (CGCT), article L2212-2: lighting falls under the mayor's police powers, and the mayor sets the municipality's switch-off times by order.
- NF EN 13201 standard: it defines road lighting classes and the expected performance levels for each type of road.
The texts can be consulted on Légifrance – Environmental Code and Légifrance – General Local Authorities Code.
What does the order of 27 December 2018 actually require?
| Obligation | Value or rule | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Schedules for heritage, parks and gardens lighting | Switch-off at 1 am at the latest, or 1 hour after the end of the activity | Art. 2 |
| Shop windows and business premises | Switch-off at 1 am or 1 hour after the end of occupancy, switch-on at 7 am or 1 hour before the activity starts | Art. 2 |
| Car parks | Switch-off 2 hours after the end of the activity | Art. 2 |
| Light emitted towards the sky (ULR) | Below 1% for the luminaire, 4% once installed | Art. 3 |
| Colour temperature | 3,000 K maximum; in protected areas, 2,700 K in built-up areas and 2,400 K outside built-up areas | Art. 3 and 4 |
| Surface density of luminous flux | 35 lm/m² in built-up areas, 25 lm/m² outside built-up areas | Art. 3 |
| Watercourses and bodies of water | Direct lighting prohibited | Art. 3 |
| Luminaires emitting more than 50% of their flux upwards (globe type) | Mandatory replacement before 1 January 2025 | Art. 4 and 9 |
New installations have had to meet these requirements since 1 January 2020. Checks are carried out by the mayor or the prefect, who can issue a formal notice to the operator and then impose administrative penalties (article L583-5 of the Environmental Code).
What constraints are specific to each territory?
Beyond the national framework, each local authority deals with its own context:
- Protected areas: nature reserves, national parks, Natura 2000 sites and astronomical observation sites listed by order impose stricter rules.
- Shared competence: many municipalities have transferred public lighting to an energy syndicate, which operates thousands of light points across dozens of municipalities with different schedules.
- Planning documents: local urban plans (PLU), territorial coherence schemes (SCoT) and dark corridors may set local light sobriety targets.
- Labels: ANPCEN's "Villes et villages étoilés" (Starry Towns and Villages) label rewards committed municipalities.
This is where a multi-territory supervision tool really comes into its own. With Kuzzle Hypervision, a syndicate can configure different control profiles per municipality, per street or per light point, and monitor how they are applied in real time.
Which public lighting control projects has Kuzzle delivered?
Kuzzle supports local authorities, energy syndicates and integrators in the remote management of public lighting, from cabinet-level control to light-point control. Three projects illustrate this expertise.
Kawantech: up to 67% energy savings with adaptive lighting
Toulouse-based SME Kawantech built its smart lighting solution on Kuzzle IoT. Its Kara sensor, built into the streetlight, distinguishes pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles to adjust intensity in real time. The LED luminaires are fitted with DALI D4i drivers and Zhaga connectors, and communicate via LoRa and MQTT.
The solution is notably deployed with Territoire d'Énergie du Tarn, which remotely supervises and controls the public lighting of its municipalities. Announced result: 67% energy savings, with the Kara sensor cutting the consumption of LED streetlights by a factor of three. Discover the smart public lighting customer case.
Morbihan Énergies: 75,000 light points on a shared data platform
The Morbihan Énergies syndicate brings together 249 member municipalities. It chose Kuzzle Data and Kuzzle IoT to collect and normalise, just once, the data from all its business lines: 75,000 light points including 16,000 smart lanterns, 25,000 km of lit roads, as well as EV charging points and building sensors. The open source architecture guarantees interoperability without dependence on any manufacturer. Read about the Morbihan Énergies data platform project.
SIEA and Alès Agglomération: territorial hypervision
The Ain intermunicipal energy syndicate (SIEA) supervises its public infrastructure with Kuzzle IoT across 393 municipalities, achieving 20% energy savings. Alès Agglomération relies on a territorial hypervision platform that brings together 9 use cases, including the supervision of lighting-related equipment (traffic lights, energy meter readings).
These projects are deployed on Kuzzle's smart city hypervision platform, which serves as a foundation for integrating public lighting with the territory's other business lines. See the SIEA and Alès Agglomération cases.
What are the advantages of Kuzzle solutions for public lighting?
- Two control levels in a single tool: cabinet-level control to programme and dim an entire street, light-point control to finely adapt lighting to 30 km/h zones, cycle paths or parks.
- Interoperability: compatibility with the TALQ v2 remote management protocol and with LoRaWAN, radio mesh or cellular networks, with no manufacturer lock-in.
- Failure detection: automatic reporting of failures and faults, with up to 40% fewer trips related to programming and maintenance.
- Data-driven control: cross-referencing programming with actual consumption to find the right balance between lighting levels and savings.
- Scenographic lighting: management of colours, timings and the events calendar to showcase heritage.
- Remote emergency switch-on in the event of an incident.
- Financial leverage: reliable data to support applications for energy savings certificates (CEE) and ADEME funding.
What are the different types of streetlights?
The choice of streetlight directly determines the control options available. An LED source with a DALI D4i driver and a Zhaga socket is "control-ready" at light-point level, whereas a sodium lamp can realistically only be controlled at cabinet level.
| Type of streetlight | Main use | Light source technology | Control compatibility | Regulatory points of attention |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Road lantern (functional) | Roads, main routes | LED, high-pressure sodium | Cabinet and light point (LED with DALI or D4i driver) | ULR below 1%, 3,000 K maximum |
| Decorative or residential lantern | Town centres, residential streets | LED, metal halide | Light point if retrofitted with controllable LED | Flux directed towards the ground, density of 35 lm/m² in built-up areas |
| Globe luminaire | Older housing estates, parks | Fluorescent bulbs, sodium | Cabinet only, replacement recommended | Prohibited if more than 50% of the flux goes upwards, replacement before 1 January 2025 |
| Bollard or post | Footpaths, parks, cycle paths | Low-power LED | Light point with presence detection | 2,700 K recommended near natural areas |
| Accent floodlight | Heritage, façades, engineering structures | RGBW LED | Light point, scenographic scenarios | Switch-off at 1 am at the latest, no direct lighting of watercourses |
| Standalone solar streetlight | Off-grid areas, shelters, rural paths | LED and battery | Light point via LoRaWAN or cellular network | Same flux and colour requirements |
| Multi-service connected pole | Smart city, squares, town entrances | LED, sensors, cameras, Wi-Fi hotspots | Native light-point control, integration with the hypervisor | Data protection (GDPR) for embedded sensors |
Converting the lighting stock to controllable LEDs is the prerequisite for any advanced remote management project. It makes it possible to move from simple astronomical-clock switching to fine dimming, street by street or streetlight by streetlight.
Total switch-off of public lighting: good or bad choice?
Since the 2022 energy crisis, thousands of French municipalities have adopted night-time switch-off, often between 11 pm and 5 am. This decision, taken by mayoral order under article L2212-2 of the CGCT, is not prohibited. It nonetheless remains a choice to be assessed case by case.
What are the advantages of night-time switch-off?
- Immediate savings: switching off lighting for 5 to 6 hours a night sharply reduces consumption, with no investment if the cabinets have astronomical clocks.
- A clear benefit for biodiversity: return of darkness, restoration of ecological continuity and dark corridors.
- The return of the starry sky, promoted by labels and astro-tourism.
What are its limitations?
- Road safety at junctions, pedestrian crossings and roundabouts, where the NF EN 13201 standard, which is voluntary, recommends lighting levels suited to each type of road.
- A sense of insecurity among some residents, pedestrians and night workers.
- The mayor's liability, as the mayor must keep dangerous obstacles signposted even when lighting is off.
- A uniform switch-off that ignores actual usage: station exits, business parks, hospital surroundings.
What is the alternative between permanent lighting and total switch-off?
The answer lies in differentiated public lighting control, combining both command levels:
- At cabinet level, switch-off or dimming applies to residential neighbourhoods and areas sensitive for wildlife.
- At light-point level, strategic luminaires stay on at 30% or 50% of their power and ramp up to 100% upon detection.
- Through event-based exemptions, lighting is restored remotely for a festival, a match or an emergency intervention.
This adaptive lighting sharply reduces consumption, as on the Kawantech project where the Kara sensor cuts LED streetlight consumption by a factor of three, while preserving safety and social acceptability. With an IoT platform for the smart city, the local authority has the history it needs to back up its choices in front of elected officials and residents.
FAQ on public lighting control
What is the difference between cabinet-level and light-point control?
Cabinet-level control commands, in one go, all the luminaires connected to an electrical cabinet, usually a street or a neighbourhood. Light-point control commands each streetlight individually thanks to a communicating controller, enabling fine dimming, presence detection and lamp-by-lamp failure reporting.
Which remote management solution is best for a small municipality?
Cabinet-level control with a connected astronomical clock is often the best starting point: it is inexpensive and sufficient for applying switch-off schedules. Light-point control can then be deployed in key areas when luminaires are replaced with LEDs.
Is public lighting control mandatory?
No regulation mandates a specific remote management technology. However, the order of 27 December 2018 imposes technical requirements (flux, colour temperature, light direction) and switch-off times for certain lighting categories, such as heritage illumination or car parks.
What energy savings can smart public lighting deliver?
Gains depend on the lighting stock and the scenarios chosen. On the Kuzzle IoT platform, Kawantech's adaptive lighting solution achieved 67% energy savings, and SIEA measured 20% energy savings through electricity monitoring of its public buildings.
What is the TALQ protocol?
TALQ is an international interoperability standard between central management software and networks of lighting controllers. It allows a local authority to control equipment from different manufacturers from a single platform. Kuzzle supports TALQ v2.
Which communication networks can be used for light-point control?
The most common are LoRaWAN, which is energy-efficient and suited to large territories, radio mesh, where each luminaire relays the signal, and cellular (4G, LTE-M, NB-IoT). The choice depends on coverage and long-term connectivity costs.
Can a municipality switch off its public lighting completely at night?
Yes. The mayor can decide on night-time switch-off by municipal order, under their police powers (article L2212-2 of the CGCT). They must, however, inform residents and keep hazards signposted.
Which financial aid is available to modernise public lighting?
Local authorities can mobilise energy savings certificates (CEE), ADEME programmes, State grants (DETR, DSIL), regional funding and European funds. Energy syndicates also often offer subsidies to their member municipalities.
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