Wigan Council Energy Management news now, as the energy team announced it had halved energy bills and subsequent carbon emission as a result of installing LED lighting in one of the area's busiest car parks.

Installed as part of the borough-wide Carbon Management Programme, the energy-efficiency lighting sees the car park now use 45 per cent of the energy that the pre-existing system used - but it's not just a case of getting up on ladders and changing the bulbs, switches and sockets.

The installation of a lighting control unit to shut the lights off when the car park is unoccupied and not in use is expected to see the council's annual bills for the Water Street location slashed by more than 50 per cent, with a saving of 35 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.

"Initially we set ourselves a target to reduce the car park's energy use by 50 per cent while improving overall lighting levels," said Wigan Council energy office Barry Foster. "The good news is that since project works completion we are achieving our energy reduction target with savings ongoing.

"We are also delighted with the improved light levels and uniformity within the car park."

The news that the LED lighting provides a significant upgrade to light levels in the car park may come as a surprise to some detractors, but leaps and bounds in LED technology mean it now provides bright and consistent illumination for homes and car parks alike.

Indeed, the Guardian's Alok Jha wrote that he had been previously "disappointed" with the light output of LED bulbs, but had since been swayed be developments pioneered by Phillips in and rolled out by a number of manufacturers since.

As a result, it's not only the perfect solution for your kitchen, hallway or bathroom, but can also be installing in garages, sheds, outhouses and gardens to provide strong illumination to fix, potter and garden by.

"Car parks pose a particular challenge as, unlike in other buildings where the emphasis is to switch off lights, the design of a multi storey car park means that artificial lighting is required throughout opening hours," added Wigan Council's Janet Ackary.

"Improving the efficiency of lighting such as this by up to 50 per cent is therefore a brilliant result.''