Are you living in a city? Do you remember when was the last time you saw the dark sky full of stars? Nowadays, even in rural areas, it is difficult to gaze at a beautiful starry sky at night! Why?
Thanks to the rapid development of the economics and countries, the electricity has made it to almost every corner where a human resides. Streetlights, one of the greatest assets of a society, are now present everywhere to illuminate the dark paths at night. While they provide light in the dark, they also often create unnecessary light pollution, especially when there is no one around in need of them. With all the unnecessary light pollution, how can one admire the beauty of the celestial bodies, shining astonishingly in the dark skies at night?
Streetlights in most places today not only create light pollution but they also waste energy and increase the CO2 emissions! The burden and adverse impact of both the wasted energy and increased CO2 emissions inevitably fall on the society and ultimately on the individuals living in it.
There is, however, a way to overcome this situation: embracing the smart sensor-technology. In other words, cities or municipalities should consider the smart, sensor-based streetlighting solutions. Smart streetlights not only curb light pollution, cut energy use, and lower CO2 emissions, but they offer much more. Let us look at the benefits of smart streetlights.
Energy Savings
Smart streetlighting solutions allow energy savings of up to 60%! Conventional streetlights burn all night at their full brightness, whereas smart streetlights don’t do that. When no human presence is detected, smart streetlights burn at a pre-defined level of brightness, for instance, at 20% of the full capacity. This intelligent feature stops unnecessary wastage of energy. Of course, when the presence of a pedestrian, cyclist, or a car is detected, the smart streetlights will adjust their brightness according to a pre-defined level.
Lower CO2 Emissions
Smart streetlighting solutions lower CO2 emissions significantly. CO2 or carbon dioxide occupies the largest share of today’s greenhouse gases (the air pollution). The addition of man-made greenhouse gases to our atmosphere upsets the earth’s balance. It leads to the rise in the earth’s temperature, which ultimately impacts our planet’s climate, water level, and agriculture. Eventually, it is bad for all living beings. Now, conventional streetlights waste a lot of energy, which contributes significantly to the increase in man-made CO2. Smart streetlights, on the other hand, save energy radically, thereby lowering the CO2 emissions considerably and creating a healthier, more sustainable living environment.
Increase Citizen Safety
Smart streetlighting solutions contribute to public safety greatly because they ensure a safe circle of light around everybody, always. When a human presence is detected, whether a pedestrian, cyclist or a driver driving a car, with smart streetlights, there will always be adequate light available. Of course, conventional streetlights offer ceaseless light, but in most situations, such light goes wasted.
Lower Light Pollution
Smart streetlighting solutions enable curbing light pollution. Conventional streetlights keep on burning at their full brightness, even when there is no one around. Smart streetlights, on the other hand, burn at a pre-defined level of brightness, for example, 20% of the full capacity, in the absence of a human being. This feature lowers the unwanted light pollution and in turn offers a healthier environment, soothing ecosystem, and unspoiled aesthetic setting.
Lower Operation & Maintenance Costs
Smart streetlighting solutions often accompany with smart light management software platform that allows remote monitoring, management, and control of the entire lighting infrastructure. The software also provides real-time analysis and evaluation of lighting data, including status reporting and failure alerts. All these features help lower the operation and maintenance costs of running streetlights.
Conclusion
Conventional streetlights just light the path at night. They, however, also accompany light pollution, wastage of energy, increased CO2 emissions, and higher operation and maintenance costs among other problems. Smart streetlights, on the other hand, also illuminate the path at night. They, however, offset many obstacles that conventional streetlights have. Smart streetlights are the future, and the quicker you embrace them, the more benefits you will be able to reap.
If you are the decision maker in your city or municipality, then adopting smart streetlighting solutions can be your first step to making your city smart.
Wonder how we can help with smart streetlighting solutions? Just get in touch with one of our representatives at https://www.tvilight.com/our-team/.