Contrary to popular belief, street lighting has a more extended history than it is currently recognized. The necessity for night time lighting has been a constant issue for people since they began to live in communities. Street lights are modified over time and nowadays people have started using modern Solar Street Lights. The benefits of solar street lights are not only for the environment but it has several other benefits. Here, in this blog, we will discuss some benefits of Solar Street Lights.
Sunlight that has been transformed into thermal or electrical energy is solar light. It is a type of unrenewable and eco-friendly new energy source. One application of solar power is a solar street light which has several benefits. Some benefits of solar streetlights include stability, a long service life, ease of installation, safety, excellent performance, and energy conservation. This type of lighting can be found extensively installed in parking lots, factories, living areas, and urban roads.
What are Solar Street Lights?
Solar streetlights use the sun’s energy to power outdoor streetlights. These solar lights use the strength of the sun through solar panels and transform them into electrical energy.
The LED light source, solar panels, storage battery, solar charge controller, lamp-post, and additional wire rods make up the solar street light. The solar module is typically made of polycrystalline or monocrystalline silicon. The storage battery is kept underground or inside a customized battery incubator.
Solar panels use a solar charge controller to collect the sun’s energy during the day and turn it into power. The storage battery will be charged by solar panels. The storage battery powers the LED light source at night. A DC controller makes sure that overcharging or over-discharging won’t harm the storage battery.
History of Solar Street Lights
The discovery of fire and the creation of the first lamps altered everything. Since then people started using lamps for their daily household but nobody thought about street lighting till the 4th century B.C. This led to the invention of street lights in the 4th century B.C. Several old documents demonstrate the use of the earliest street lights in the ancient Greek city of Antioch. Soon, modern public street lighting was developed in the 1500s using candles and oil.
However, German inventor Frederick Albert Winsor created the first widely utilized street lighting system in London in 1807 using piped coal gas. Electrical street lights like the arch lamp and the incandescent bulb later took place.
Since then, public street lights have played a significant role in urban development, transportation, and large public spaces, providing bright light for walking, security in outdoor settings, and significant advantages for pedestrians, drivers, animals, and locals in the communities where they are installed.
Benefits of Solar Street Lights
Solar energy can be used in multiple ways. Many people have already installed solar panels at home and know the benefits of Solar panels. One other use of solar energy is in Solar lights. Solar-powered lighting is growing in popularity, not just for homes and businesses but also for entire towns. Local roads and pathways in residential neighbourhoods can be illuminated with solar lamps, which are a dependable and sustainable source of light supplying both vehicles and pedestrians with lighting that meets high requirements.
Traditional electric street lights from the 19th century are starting to be replaced by LED solar grid-free street lights, which are quickly taking over as the new norm in street lighting. Let’s look at some of the great benefits of Solar Street Lights.
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Environment Friendly
Instead of burning fossil fuels, solar streetlights employ renewable energy, which lowers their carbon footprint and energy usage. Due to the lack of trenching for cables and external power sources, they minimize environmental impact during installation and maintenance.
Traditional street lights that are connected to the grid use a lot of money and are the biggest source of carbon emissions. They make up 30–100% of the total emissions of a local government. Solar-powered street lights are better for the environment because the solar panels only need power from the sun and don’t release any carbon when they work.
Cost Effective
Solar street lights utilize less energy, create better, more direct light, and last roughly seven times as long as conventional incandescent or high-pressure sodium (HPS) lights.
Due to the absence of external electrical requirements, monthly energy bills and maintenance expenses are reduced to a minimum. It leads to significant savings over the course of the light’s lifespan and in most circumstances, it brings the light’s initial cost down to zero.
High lifespan
The normal rated lifespan of conventional street lights, such as incandescent, fluorescent, mercury vapour, metal halide, and high-pressure sodium, ranges from 2,000 to 29,000 hours. Whereas solar-powered LEDs have a typical rated lifespan of 15,000 to 50,000 hours. This makes the solar-powered lights a better option than conventional lights.
Easy to install
The majority of contemporary solar streetlights come with built-in solar panels, batteries, motion sensors, and control modules, which make the installation simpler and faster. It does not require any power lines or infrastructure. Whereas traditional street lights require experts to install them. Solar street lighting is straightforward to install. It can be installed without any wiring or electrical work. The device only needs to be fastened to a pole or flat surface.
High technology
Good quality solar lights are made with mono-crystalline panels, which are more effective than poly-crystalline (rated at 15% efficiency). It also provides 20% of the maximum power. It also has some of the greatest equipment on the market, along with deep-cycle lead acid batteries that are expected to last 5-7 years.
Less Maintenance Required
Business solar lights only need periodic cleaning to remove obstructions from the panels and battery replacements. It requires less maintenance than regular lights. Every 5 years, traditional lighting fixtures (usually made of high-pressure sodium) need to be replaced. Solar lights are made up of high technologies that are designed to survive for a very long time with very minor maintenance for each functional component.
Conclusion
According to the International Energy Agency, if we keep going in this direction, solar energy will account for 16% of the world’s electricity by 2050. You can also join this list by switching to solar electricity, which will increase safety, decrease pollution, and result in financial savings.
Switch to solar street lights for enhanced safety, savings, and sustainability. These lights offer a host of benefits, from illuminating dark areas to reducing your electricity bills. With a solar installation, you could even garner media attention for your eco-friendly lighting initiative in your community.
To learn more about the advantages and options of solar street lights, get in touch with Mentor Group at 7351002123 for a consultation.
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