Street lighting fixtures are used to illuminate roadways, parking lots, yards, sidewalks, public meeting areas, signs, work sites, buildings, and the list goes on. They provide pedestrians, bikers, and drives with better visibility and a sense of security and make moving around easy.
It is essential to have well designed and properly installed street lighting fixtures in view for public safety. However, since street lighting fixtures are used on a large scale, care should be taken to see that they are energy efficient.
The one main consideration for street lighting is that it should benefit people. It is advisable to check the area to be lighted at night before installation. This will give you a very good idea of other light sources and what kind of lighting the area gets. Your source of street lighting can then be appropriately chosen.
Street lighting fixtures should provide uniform lighting, and glare should be avoided as much as possible. Glare reduces visibility and can make the area unsafe.
Care should be taken to provide an adequate amount of street lighting. This can be done by choosing the right kind of street light fixtures. Street lighting fixtures come with features like “fully shielded” fixtures. This means that no light is emitted above the lighting fixture. This eliminates “sky glow.” High-efficiency street lighting fixtures with low wattage are a popular choice.
Street lighting fixtures that serve the purpose of sign lights should not be overly bright. Excess brightness makes it difficult to read the sign and defeats the very purpose of the lights.
On the flip side, street lights at times filter into houses, trespassing on privacy and hindering sleep patterns. In large cities, the huge number of street lights creates a sky glow. According to environmentalists, by creating light where there should be none, we are upsetting the delicate balance of nature. Sleep patterns of nocturnal creatures that are exposed to this sky glow, are disturbed.
