The importance of street lighting was first realized in ancient times, when the Romans built roads and other major public works. Over the years, many cities have installed street lights to preserve public safety, enhance evening activities, and expand into tourism industries. Different types of lights have been used throughout history as they became available — oil lamps, candle lights, lanterns, gas lamps and electric lighting. Low-energy light-emitting diodes (LED) were introduced in the twentieth century and have since become standard. Modern LED street lighting can generate lesser amounts of greenhouse gases than traditional high-pressure sodium lamps. Researchers recommend using solar street lighting because it’s a clean and sustainable way to provide light.
Lights are a significant part of municipal energy consumption and overall operating cost. However, it is important to provide a quality street light infrastructure that is well designed and energy efficient and reduce cost while enhancing the appearance of the area. Street lights should also be well maintained to reduce energy use and operational costs, provide better visibility and safety, while reducing light pollution and environmental impact. Unnecessary energy consumption should be reduced by choosing efficient lighting fixtures.
As more and more companies take to adopting clean energy products, the field of research on them is only growing. Solar street lights are no exception. The technology has been in development for the last 20 years or so, but it’s only recently that bulky solar panels have become an integral part of residential lighting for homes and businesses alike. With cheaper prices and increasingly effective designs, there’s no wonder why the popularity of these products is increasing exponentially.
Cost-Effectiveness
While the initial investment for solar street lighting is generally higher than the cost of traditional lights, you have to keep in mind that this single expenditure is a one-time payment. Once you pay up, your solar street lights will be relatively inexpensive to maintain and you won’t have to struggle with high energy bills on monthly basis.
Solar street lights don’t require regular maintenance, and they can be a great alternative to traditional street lights. As long as you keep them clean and make sure that the solar panels are facing the right way, your lights will last for many years without needing maintenance.
Traditional street lights often require the installation of expensive electric poles. In addition, they need to be maintained regularly, which will incur additional costs.
Efficiency and Luminance
In terms of visibility, solar-powered lights are a great option because they offer built-in LEDs that mimic natural sunlight. This gives you the option to change the color rendering index (or CRI) to reflect the color that you want. This improves visibility at night.
Here are a few examples of popular streetlights: metal halide lamps, High-intensity discharge lamps, Compact fluorescent lamps. There’s more on the different types of lamps here. When it comes to solar street lighting, it use less energy and produce brighter lights.
Lifespan
Solar street lighting have an estimated lifespan of 5-10 years — that is a huge difference from the lifespan of traditional lights with the average of 5,000 to 8000 hours. Since solar street lights don’t need any electricity to power them, you can use them for all kinds of purposes, such as lighting up pathways outside your home so that you can take a walk at night without having to worry about tripping over anything.
Reliability
Because of their off-grid nature, solar street lights are almost completely reliable in power cuts or grid disruption. These lights keep on illuminating during times where conventional lighting would fail. With a zero-maintenance cost and low operational costs, these lights are definitely better than the rest!
Meanwhile, traditional street lights are always affected by power outages.
Environmentally Friendly
Solar street lighting is not only a great addition to city infrastructure but also acts as an environmentally sound way to illuminate public spaces. Energy is harvested via the sun during the day, stored in a battery, and released at night. Since they don’t rely on electrical wiring, they pose no threat to people or the environment, making solar street lights a green solution that benefits your community and the environment as a whole.
Maintenance
Solar street lights are maintenance-free, self-sustaining, and eco-friendly. No need to pay electric or gas bills! They are environmentally friendly since they use solar power to operate, which means they produce no noise, emissions or pollutants. Solar street lighting also have a longer lifespan than the usual street lighting system — therefore, you do not need to change them for many years if no damage occurs.
When you have conventional street lighting, it requires constant monitoring and is often prone to errors when replacement parts need to be installed. There are several reasons why constant monitoring is necessary: for example, checking for loose connections and replacing defective parts. Metering is also important to check if the wiring is in working order and can be used safely. We may take our street lights for granted, but they require a lot of careful maintenance to keep them running smoothly.
To put it simply, smart solar street lighting are the future. Solar street lights are becoming a great source of light in this digital age, as they are not just energy efficient and durable but also eco-friendly. Smart solar street lights allow users to customize the settings according to their needs. They are easily adjustable and helps users to reduce their electricity bills.
Solar street lights have now become a common sight on the streets to help pedestrians with limited vision during the night.
