Automatic Exeter street light switch-off plan approved
Street lights in Exeter are to be switched off at night in a £1.7m scheme approved by Devon county councillors.
The Conservative-led authority wants to install remote monitoring technology to turn off 12,000 lights as traffic and pedestrian levels fall.
Lights previously on from dusk until dawn would be off between 00:30 and 05:30, the council said.
It added that the scheme would cut its carbon footprint and pay for itself in savings over about six years.
The lights could also be switched back on in an emergency, it said.
The council plans to roll out such a system across the whole county in the long-term.
The county council area currently has more than 72,000 street lights.
They cost about £3.4m in electricity in 2011 and produce nearly 20,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.