Solar street lights offer adequate lighting at night for traffic control and safety, as well as protection of homes, schools, hospitals, and government institutions, all while not being limited to the use of electricity from the grid. They represent a sustainable lighting solution, since they offer lighting powered from a clean source of energy, which is of great importance when it comes to reducing the global carbon footprint. More importantly, solar street lights enable renewable energy to be introduced to under-developed countries without incurring enormous costs that come with the installation of the transmission line network.
In the recent past, energy efficiency and renewable energy have been the twodriving forces behind the rapid growth of solar street lights. This development is highlighted by the fact that solar technology is showing no signs of slowing down and is set to play a crucial role in helping the countries meet their climate change obligations. With that in mind, streets are an ideal place for the large-scale deployment of solar power. With a great percentage of the world population living in areas with poor power quality and with frequent blackouts, especially in under-developed countries, solar power is well suited to bridge this gap.
How Do Solar Street Lights Work?
A solar street light is equipped with a solar panel that produces electricity during the day, and is in charge of keeping the batteries as full as possible. Batteries are charged from a source that needs no other fuel than the energy of the Sun, which is completely free and available during the day, and are used as a power supply for the LED lamps. These lamps can produce 4,000-8,000 lumens each, enough to light a street well into the night. Not only does the solar street lighting come from a completely clean power supply, but it also guarantees resilience to the grid outages due to bad weather conditions, which can be unpredictable. This means that solar street lights are ideal for remote areas and can save money in the long run.
With all the aforementioned benefits, and a combination of modern design and an easy installation, solar street lights are becoming an inevitable part of modern architecture. Installing solar street lights has proven to provide many benefits to the communities, ensuring reliability and resilience to its users. Combined with other solar powered on-grid and off-grid systems, they will be the key to providing energy independence in the long run - not only to the developed communities and cities, but to every part of the world.