May 8, 2020 Solar Street Lights vs Traditional Street Lights

A comparison of the attributes of solar lighting and traditional lighting.

Solar street lights and other solar products have grown in popularity over the years. Unlike traditional sources of light, solar lights don’t harm the environment. This is the reason why a lot of people are switching to this technology for their lighting needs. Moreover, solar lights do not rely on electricity providers; thus, you become spared from hefty electric bills.

Solar street lights are outdoor light devices that are activated through the photovoltaic or PV panels. They have a rechargeable battery that can be loaded with electrical power when detecting light from a source such as the Sun.

If you want to know more information about solar varieties, communicate with a China solar street light manufacturer. Now, let’s compare the attributes of solar lighting and traditional lighting.

Cost-Effectiveness

It is widely known that for solar products, you will be required a costly initial investment. Hence, traditional street lights are much cheaper. However, in the long run, solar street lights turn out to be a better investment than the traditional ones due to all the expenses you will have to pay for in order to maintain the performance of your lights.

Installation and maintenance are generally costly, but solar street lights do not require regular maintenance nor a replacement. There is only a need to keep them clean and away from dust.

As for traditional street lights, they necessitate the setting up of electric poles, which can be very expensive. They need to be maintained regularly too, which will incur further costs.

Efficiency and Luminance

In terms of visibility, solar-powered lights closely simulate the sunlight as they have built-in LEDs. These LED lights give you the option to alter the CRI or color rendering index into the color of light that you desire. This improves visibility at night.

On the other hand, traditional street lights typically possess metal halide lamps within. These high-intensity discharge lamps offer most of their light from the electric arc inside a compact emanation tube. Unfortunately, these cannot beat the visibility that solar-powered lights can provide you with. Solar lamps use LEDs or light-emitting diodes that surpass CFLs or compact fluorescent lamps in harnessing more energy and producing brighter light.

Lifespan

Traditional lights last for approximately an average of 5,000 to 8000 hours or less than a year of usage whereas solar LED lights can live for 5 to 7 years. This notion always puts solar-powered lights ahead of the conventional lights.

Reliability

Solar street lights depend less on conventional energy and the national grid. For dusk to dawn lighting operations, solar products are totally reliable. Their off-grid nature equates to almost zero maintenance and low operational costs. Through the power cuts and grid disruption, these lights remain illuminated.

Meanwhile, traditional street lights are always affected by grid failures and power cuts due to their being connected to the energy reserve.

Good Impact on the Environment

Solar street lights pose no threat to the environment and its people. No fire can be ignited due to a lack of electrical wirings. In addition to that, accidents such as strangulation, overheating, and electrocution will never take place as well. They give off a lower quantity of carbon footprint than that of the traditional lights; thereby, making them eco-friendly.

On the contrary, traditional lights generate illumination merely from electricity which gets disrupted every occurrence of grid failure. The main advantage of solar street lights is it uses renewable energy from the sun, whereas traditional lights rely on electricity generated from nonrenewable fossil fuels and limited by power outages.

Maintenance

How do you increase the performance of a modern smart solar street lamp? Manage your lights remotely using a software solution. Observe which hours the pedestrian frequency peaks and drops. Once known, adjust the lighting schedules of solar lights accordingly.

How do they work day and night? Solar cells in the PV panels of a solar street light convert the heat of the sun (solar energy) to electricity (electrical energy). Afterward, the solar energy is stored in the rechargeable battery. When the dark starts crawling in, solar lights operate using the energy stored in the battery. The few things that make solar in need of maintenance are these: maintenance of the smart battery control systems, minor preventive maintenance, assessment of design, and performance.

Traditional street lights consume more electricity and require more maintenance and repair from time to time. Operational costs are higher as well.

Weather-Proof Lights

Lastly, one of the major concerns in choosing a street light is its durability. How can it stand still amidst the storm? Solar street lamps are weather-proof and water-proof. It’s not a problem if they do not receive sunlight for a few days, they can utilize the rest of the stored solar energy converted into electrical energy.

Traditional street lights, on the other hand, are not primarily designed to completely stand extreme weather conditions. Although some have a feature that can withstand varying kinds of weather, others are easily damaged by constant typhoons.

To summarize, solar-powered LED lights are considered one step ahead of the traditional lights. Today, lights with smart technology are in demand. There is no doubt that they can provide more than what is needed by users. Solar street lights also encourage activities such as walking, cycling, going to parks, etc. They increase the productivity of people and visibility at night.

Subscribe to Industry Today