Highlights? The problem of uniformity and installation efficiency in public lighting is optimized. ? The most accurate values of height and spacing have been determined with NSGA-II. ? The results have been successfully compared with a well-known and reliable free software. This paper presents a new method for calculating the design of roadway lighting. Apart from its accuracy, this method, which is based on a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm, has the added advantage of enhancing the energy efficiency of lighting installations. This is positive because the economic use of energy resources is evidently a priority in the world today. In our study, an exhaustive calibration process was used to fine-tune the accuracy and precision of the new method presented. The results obtained were then compared with those of DIALUX, a well-known free software program that is frequently used for the design of lighting installations. In the second phase of this research, the lighting installation was made more complex in order to verify the applicability of this new method to a wide range of different contexts.