What energy do street lights use? Solar energy: the future energy of street lights
Appearing from the Roman period, going through many centuries, up to now, street lights have been greatly improved both in style, design, as well as the source of energy used. So which is the best source of energy for street lights? And in the future, which energy source is prioritized for long-term use? Let’s find out with VIC through this article.
History of street light energy
In the 18th century, people used coal gas as a fuel for street lighting systems. In the 19th century, at the magnificent avenue of MontMontre, gas street lights were installed, making most of Parisians fascinated with gas light, since then it has been dubbed the “city of light”.
In 1853, the first modern kerosene street lamps appeared in the Austrian Empire.
By 1875, a Russian named Pavel Yablockkov successfully developed an arc lamp powered street lamp using alternating current. However, arc lamps have two major disadvantages: they emit harsh light and need regular maintenance.
By the end of the 19th century, street lamps running incandescent bulbs were born and overcome the above disadvantages, plus cheaper costs, so they gradually replaced arc lamps.
Newcastle is the first city in the world to have streets lit by incandescent lamps. Incandescent street lights were used to light the streets until high-intensity gas discharge lamps came into being.
Today, street lights are favoring high intensity discharge lamps due to their lower consumption costs.
See the list of street lights with many different styles:
What energy does the modern street lights use?
The more technology developed, the more advanced the lighting system. The trend of using LEDs is increasingly popular due to its great advantages.
Along with LED technology, smart city projects are also being developed at the same time. Smart street lights now use LED technology in combination with smart sensors and use solar energy instead of using the power source directly.
By 2050, experts predict that 68% of the world’s population will be living in urban areas — a jump from 56% in 2016. Now cities consume about 70% of the world’s electricity, and this number will gradually increase as more and more people attract to urban areas.
As pressure is mounting in urban centers, the Internet of Things (IoT) is evolving rapidly, and new smart city technologies have emerged to help urban centers meet more of the needs.
One of the solutions is intelligent lighting with solar energy. Over the past few years, we have seen the technology of solar lights being applied by many cities around the world as well as many businesses, which is an inevitable trend to solve the remaining problems of current street lights energy.
Mechanism of solar lamps: When sunlight shines on a solar panel, the panel converts the photovoltaic energy into electricity and sends it to the controller, controller to charge the battery or battery to be charged and this power is the source for glowing led bulbs.
Advantages of solar street lights
- No need for wiring and simple installation.
- Safety: Solar street lights do not pose any accident threat such as overheating, electric shock or danger as they have no external cord.
- Protect the environment: Because solar street lights significantly reduce carbon emissions, they do not cause greenhouse effects and climate change. The fact that solar street lights are a perfect green lighting solution that humanity has been waiting for.
- Long-term cost savings: with long life (more than 10 years on average for a product), plus no electricity and maintenance costs, in the long run, solar lights will definitely be the most reasonable saving solution.
- Don’t worry about power outages: Regardless of power outages and power grid outages, solar street lights can still light the streets all night.
Disadvantages of solar street lights
- High investment cost: because using solar panels is a new technology, the initial cost will be higher than traditional lamps.
- Long time using lamps will accumulate moisture, dust or snow on horizontal solar panels which can lead to a reduction or complete shutdown of energy production, which is the reason that solar street lights need to be checked at least once a year while placed in inclement weather.
Conclude
The combination of solar energy with LED technology and smart sensors will help street lights not only be used for lighting and decoration, but also help save costs for maintaining and protecting the environment and perfecting the functions of a smart city. This is what humanity is aiming for in the near future.
|By Dinh Tien Vu from Vietnam Cast Iron