Advantages of public LED lighting

LED lights for public lighting? Let’s try to understand in this article what are the advantages of choosing LED lighting in cities: many advantages for the Public Administration and for citizens. It is well known that LED lighting is more efficient from an energy point of view, has a longer duration and is more sustainable, but the  advantages for public lighting certainly do not end there, let’s explore them all in detail.

Long lifetime and maintenance-free

The use of LEDs in public lighting has significantly changed the concept of maintenance. Compared to traditional public lighting (made with sodium vapour lamps, fluorescent lamps or metal halide lamps) which made it necessary to replace the bulbs even every year, LED lighting, thanks to recent technological upgrades, reaches and exceeds 100.000 hours, or over twenty years of operation. An incredible advantage both for municipal administrations, which do not have to constantly spend on the maintenance of street lights or worry about spare parts, and for citizens, who no longer incur frequent breakdowns and continuous reports.

Absence of polluting chemical materials

The LED doesn’t pollute and doesn’t contain dangerous substances: it’s essentially composed of silicon dust and does not have other harmful gases or toxic substances, unlike fluorescent lamps and discharge lamps (metal halides and sodium vapors). The LEDs produce energy through an electronic component which, thanks to the passage of a minimum amount of electrical energy, emits a light without infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV): no part of the energy that is transformed into light is outside of the visible spectrum. Furthermore, as they do not contain mercury or other substances dangerous to human health, they are easier to dispose of (despite being WEEE waste) and are 95% recyclable.

Reduction of CO2 emissions

Another advantage of public LED lighting  is to drastically reduce carbon dioxide (CO₂), emissions, the main cause of the greenhouse effect. LED streetlights use much less energy than traditional sources, consequently, the consumption in kW/hr per year is much lower and contributes to the reduction of CO₂, for more eco-sustainable cities. Choosing to convert public lighting to LED is, therefore, a valid strategy for reducing energy costs and the carbon footprint on the planet.

All the advantages of public LED lighting

• Lifetime of the LED light source over 100.000 hours.

• Virtually no maintenance costs.

• High efficiency compared to traditional public lighting and CO2 reduction.

• Light without IR and UV components because no part of the energy transformed into light is outside the visible spectrum.

• Safe functioning because the LED works at very low voltage.

• Less heat generated in the environment compared to other traditional lighting technologies.

• Correct performance even at very low temperatures (up to -40°C) without problems.

• Absence of mercury or dangerous substances.

• Possibility of creating compact lighting fixtures due to the reduced dimensional impact.

• Reduced size of the light source (point) which can be modulated at will thanks to the use of lenses or specific optics.

• Possibility to adjust the light intensity.

Still, many facilities have outdated technologies

Despite all the indisputable advantages of public LED lighting, the road tototal energy efficiency is still long, with the replacement of old lighting technologies with efficient LEDs. According to a survey by market analyst Arthur D. Little,  this is less than 15% of the 320 million LED street lights installed worldwide. The European average is even lower but with profound differences between cities and various geographical areas: in Milan, for example, since 2015 00% of street lights are LED.