Low-impact Street Lighting?
Submitted by: tgouk
4 March 2008 - 5:58pm
Looking for information on low-impact street lights. Low-impact mainly meaning will not shine into a neighbors yard above or below the street (too bad at least), relatively in-expensive (compared to standard city street lights) and hopefully power-conserving.
I don't know if there is such a thing, but possibly a street level light that is mounted to/in the curb (curb/gutter only on one side of street).
Thanks for any info!!
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Low Impact Lighting
I have been working with lighting on project recently, and although I don't know much, I'll try and convey what I have discovered. First of all, outdoor illumination is more complex than you can imagine. It seems the deeper I dig the more I find I don't know. You should find a local lighting rep that you are comfortable with. lighting reps typically represent a broad range of manufacturers - budget to high end stuff. If you work with a reputable lighting rep (they don't charge you)they can help guide you through the process.
In the Mid-Atlantic region (PA, Del, NJ, NY), Source Lighting and Diversified Lighting are two very good reps. Also, many power utilities are starting to provide decent looking lighting - they install and maintain, you pay for power and a lease fee. PPL in Pennsylvania offers this.
Unfortunately good lighting is expensive, but don't be short sighted and buy the cheapest thing you can find. Very often the better luminaires have superior photometric performance, so you can use fewer setups to acheive the illumination standards you must meet. Also, some of your cheaper lighting is not as efficient and it is not as duarable, so you end up replacing it sooner (think long term - sustainable as well as intial set-up cost. Your lighting rep can help you. Also, better fixtures/lamps typically perform better and have less glare.
You definitely want a full cut-off light fixture, and one that is dark sky friendly. See this link for a good explaination: http://www.eskimo.com/~jrterry/opticspage.html
Lighting technology has really improved, so even the the nice acorn type street lights provide decent cut-off. Also, in urban areas wher you'll have offices or condos/apt on the upper floors, you will want to specify a "house side shield". This will cutoff light and glare into the upper floors of a building.
Another key decision to make is the type of lamp...many choices, the two most realistic choices are Metal Halide (MH) or High Pressure Sodium (HPS). Both are HID (high intensity discharge)lamps. They say HPS is a bit more efficient (longer lamp life, more efficient lumens per watt), but HPS has that yellowish-orange color, whereas MH is a cleaner white light. Your lighting rep can help you decide.
Good luck, just remember cheaper initial cost isn't alwys better in the long run.