Dimmer switch technology will be fitted to thousands of replacement street lights in Coventry to help save energy and money.
Coventry City Council is proposing to replace 28,000 of its 32,000 street lights over the next five years.
It wants to be able to reduce the brightness of lights at times of low road usage.
The ability to vary bulb brightness on demand will save up to £684,000 per year in energy bills, the council said.
The scheme is part of a £64m private finance initiative. Councillors are due to consider tender offers on Tuesday.
Installation of the new lights is scheduled to start in the summer, making Coventry one of the first places in the UK to adopt the new lighting technology on such a wide scale.
Worcestershire County Council adopted a similar energy saving scheme in late 2009.
Automatic sensor
New lights have so far been installed in two roads. The rest are to be installed over the next 13 years.
The council said the lights had an automatic sensor, which dimmed their brightness after midnight when traffic is down 90% on the busiest time of day.
It estimated the system would help it save up to £80,000 per year.
Coventry City Council leader Ken Taylor said: "Like lots of people, I have dimmer switches in my home. Soon we will have one that covers all street lights in the city too.
"This will mean we can turn areas of lighting down, or up, as required.
"So, for events in the city centre we can turn them up but at 0330 on a Tuesday morning for example we can also turn them down - saving power and money."
Colin Knight, Coventry's head of highway services, added: "The lights will be pre-programmed in predictable areas, such as roads where there are nightclubs, which will be brighter, but they will have the ability to be overridden if needed."
The street lamps are not movement-sensitive but would be linked to a centrally-controlled computer that can override the settings on demand to reflect different lighting needs.
The system would also automatically indicate when bulbs need replacing.
By what logic is a street light needed less just because there is less traffic?
