Commercial solar outdoor LED lighting communicates a renewable story

In the past decade, society has seen an increased growth in implementing renewable technologies and practices into our day-to-day lives. It has integrated into our society, providing a nuance to everyday things like automobiles, thermostats, and even lighting and controls. On a larger scale, we are seeing geothermal used for large buildings, storm water capturing and recycling, and even solar led high bay lighting wholesale that is not connected to the electrical grid. Indeed, the efficiencies afforded by LEDs have breathed new life into solar as we heard at the Strategies in Light Conference back in February. Here we will examine the benefits and challenges of implementation.
Solar outdoor lighting has set itself apart from other technologies by not only providing essential lighting for our everyday lives but also informing facility occupants and onlookers that sustainability was taken into account in the design of the facility. Solar outdoor lighting communicates as it illuminates, conveying a message about environmental stewardship that redounds to the benefit of companies and organizations, as well as builders, developers, and lighting designers.
FIG. 1. The entry drive to Brown Center at Indian River State College provides a prominent sustainability message for a building dedicated to the study of such technology.
FIG. 1. The entry drive to Brown Center at Indian River State College provides a prominent sustainability message for a building dedicated to the study of such technology.
Thanks to advances in solar panel, battery, and LED technologies, commercial solar outdoor lighting is now more reliable than its grid-tied counterparts, and it provides a higher quality of light for a lower cost. Indeed, the cost of solar outdoor lighting has benefitted from synergies in technological innovation in three key areas:
• Reduced cost of solar panels: In recent years, the cost of photovoltaic panels has dropped precipitously — 60% since early 2011, according to the US Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) 2013 Year in Review.
• Improved battery technology: The growth in the hybrid and electric car markets has improved battery technologies and the result is compact, highly efficient, longer-lasting rechargeable batteries.
• Improved LED efficiency: LED lighting is also gaining in efficiency, which translates to more light with less power, or greater efficacy (more lumens per watt), which equates to a reduced cost for the same lighting output.
As a result of these trends, commercial solar outdoor lighting is now more economical than grid-tied options in many situations. These include situations in which the existing electrical infrastructure is remote or nonexistent, such as perimeter security and greenfield construction, or in which there is a reluctance to disturb the existing paving or landscape — i.e., parking lots, roadways, outdoor storage areas, parks and trails, playgrounds, and campuses. In these circumstances, the payback for installing a solar led high bay light price system can be achieved immediately by avoiding the costs of trenching, wiring, and other electrical and utility expenses associated with the installation of a new grid-tied lighting system. Plus, with solar LED lights there is no electricity bill over the more than 25-year life of the system, offering savings for decades to come.