00:00As daylight fades, humans create a kind of man-made daytime using streetlights, which
00:07are usually simply on or off. But modern technology means lighting can be smart, connected and
00:14adjustable on a huge scale.
00:16For about a six-month period, we were able to utilize around 30,000 streetlights around
00:20Canberra.
00:21Researchers can now adjust the capital's lighting from a laptop.
00:24To essentially control its intensity, its schedule, its programming, it's on and off.
00:32Scientists at the ANU turned Canberra's lights down from 100% to 70 and even 50% brightness,
00:38changes imperceptible to the human eye.
00:40We've had engineers and other streetlighting practitioners who've had 30 plus years experience,
00:47they were unable to distinguish between 70% and 100%.
00:50Dimming Canberra's lights for six months saved 1,000 tons of carbon emissions, while
00:55the reduction in light emissions was also measured.
00:58So for every 10% the lights are dimmed, it's about a 5% change in the glow of the sky.
01:04So when we dim all the way to about 50%, that means the sky has been reduced by about 25%
01:10in terms of brightness.
01:11A darker night sky means a brighter celestial glow.
01:15So we'll see more stars, we'll see the fainter stars will be a bit brighter, the brighter
01:20stars will get even brighter and some new stars pop out that were previously lost.
01:25Canberra's streetlight experiment is an Australian first. About a third of the capital's streetlights
01:29now have this technology. Less light, illuminating the skies.
01:34Looking up, trying to see a meteor shower, trying to spot the aurora. If we slowly erode
01:40that part of humanity, we slowly erode part of humanity.
01:46A bright, dark future.
01:50For more UN videos visit www.un.org
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