Key Factors to Consider in the Street Lighting Design

As an important part of modern urban infrastructure, street lights play a pivotal role in the nighttime operation of cities. Street lights illuminate roads and related infrastructure, providing a guarantee of safe travel for all road users in the dark hours, whether they are pedestrians hurrying home, or drivers of vehicles, all rely on good street lighting.
 

Good street lighting not only provides safety for pedestrians and drivers, but is also important for deterring crime and aiding traffic decisions. But the realization of ideal lighting effect is not easy, need to consider many factors, from the brightness of the lighting, uniformity, to the control of glare, and energy efficiency, etc., each link is crucial, and solar street lights in which show unique advantages, it is worthwhile for people to choose.
 

Why Road Lighting is Required?

Eliminating dark areas and illuminating infrastructure

In the absence of lighting road sections, people's travel is full of potential dangers, and dark corners and streets are daunting, while the street lights are turned on, the road environment at a glance, and passing pedestrians and drivers are able to clearly identify the road surface conditions, significantly improving the safety of travel. Especially in the streets where solar street lights are installed, the street lights will automatically light up when night falls, providing a safe traveling environment for people.

Aiding driving decisions and reducing accident risks

Clear road signs with good lighting can provide drivers with key information such as steering and speed limits, helping them to make quick and correct decisions, avoid driving errors and reduce the incidence of traffic accidents. Statistics show that the rate of traffic accidents on well-lit roads at night is much lower than on poorly lit roads. Street lights allow drivers to spot obstacles, pedestrians and other vehicles in time, giving them plenty of time to respond and reducing the chance of an accident.

Deterring crime and vandalism

Crime and vandalism often occur in poorly lit dark corners. At night and in low-traffic environments, street lights increase the risk of detection of criminal behavior and have a deterrent effect on potential offenders, and a large body of data shows that crime rates are relatively low in well-lit areas.
 

Standards for Street Lighting Design 

Illumination Levels

Different road types have different illumination requirements. Main roads require high illuminance (15 - 50 lux) for fast moving vehicles, 5 - 15 lux for low traffic density and slow speeds on residential roads, and 10 - 20 lux for pedestrian areas. Appropriate illumination is the basis for road safety and experience. Solar street light can be configured according to different road illumination requirements, the corresponding power of solar panels and lamps, to meet the lighting requirements, and through the intelligent control system, to adjust the brightness at different times, not only energy-saving but also to ensure the illumination.

Uniformity

Uniformity ratio (minimum illuminance ÷ average illuminance) is a key indicator to measure the uniformity of lighting. Uniformity of lighting can avoid the driver's visual blind spots and fatigue, different road types uniformity standards are different, the main road needs to be ≥ 0.4, residential streets ≥ 0.3. When designing and installing solar street lights, the light distribution can be optimized through reasonable layout of poles and lamps to achieve good uniformity.

Glare Limit

Glare is categorized into disability glare and discomfort glare, which will interfere with driver's vision and even cause accidents. The UGR of urban road should be ≤22, and the TI of main road should be ≤15%. Solar street light can effectively reduce glare and ensure road safety through special optical design, such as adopting anti-glare lens and optimizing light distribution curve of lamps and lanterns.

Color temperature and color rendering

The suitable color temperature for city streets is 3000 - 4000K, and for highways is 4000 - 5000K, and the color rendering index (CRI) is more than 70, which can help to accurately identify objects. Solar street lights can choose light sources that meet the color temperature requirements of different scenarios and have good color rendering, which can meet the needs of road lighting and provide a comfortable visual environment for drivers and pedestrians.

Energy Efficiency

Driven by the concept of environmental protection, energy efficiency is becoming more and more important. Solar street lights use solar energy as the energy source, which is clean and environmentally friendly and does not need to consume traditional electricity. The LED lamps used are usually more than 100 lumens/watt, which is a significant energy saving effect, and have a long lifespan, which reduces maintenance costs and is fully in line with the requirements of sustainable development.
 

Advantages of Solar Street Lights in Street Lighting Design

Flexible and Convenient Installation

Solar street lights do not need to lay complex cable lines, only need to install poles and luminaires at suitable locations, connect solar panels and batteries, the installation process is simple, which can significantly shorten the construction cycle and reduce the impact on traffic and the surrounding environment. It can be quickly deployed in both new roads and existing road reconstruction.

Low maintenance cost in the later stage

As the core components of the solar street light, such as solar panels, LED lamps and batteries, have a long service life, and the daily maintenance mainly involves regular cleaning of the solar panels and checking the operation of the equipment, the maintenance cost is significantly reduced compared to the frequent replacement of bulbs and repair of wiring of traditional street lights. This not only reduces the economic burden of the city management department, but also ensures the continuous and stable operation of street lights.

Adaptable to various environments

Solar street light relies on solar power and is not restricted by grid power supply, which is particularly advantageous in remote areas, mountainous regions or regions with unstable power supply. Even under adverse weather conditions, such as cloudy and rainy days, the built-in batteries of solar street lights can ensure lighting for a certain period of time to ensure road safety.
 

How to Design Efficient Street Lighting

Clarify the needs

Accurately assess the road type, consider the traffic pattern, and follow the applicable standards. Solar street lights in the design, also based on different road types and traffic conditions, reasonable configuration of power, adjust the installation height and spacing, to meet the lighting needs at the same time, to ensure compliance with relevant standards and specifications.

Choose the right lighting fixtures

The LED lamps used in solar street lights are characterized by high efficiency, long life and precise light control. Selecting high-quality LED chips and drivers ensures the durability and stability of the fixtures. Optical control reduces glare and light spillage and improves lighting effect.

Optimize the position and height of the light pole

Choose the appropriate height of the light pole according to the width of the road, reasonably determine the spacing of the light pole and adjust the correct installation angle. The design principle of solar street light in this regard is the same as that of traditional street light, but it needs to be combined with the light demand of solar panels to ensure that they can fully receive sunlight and improve energy conversion efficiency.

Improve energy efficiency

Solar street light realizes energy saving through intelligent control and avoids over-lighting. Its highly efficient LED driver reduces power loss and further improves energy efficiency. The intelligent control system automatically adjusts the light brightness according to the ambient light and traffic flow, and reduces the brightness at night when the traffic flow is low to save energy.

Ensure uniformity and visibility

When designing and installing solar street lights, ensure that the appropriate uniformity standards are met, choose the right color temperature, and pay attention to the color rendering index to enhance the lighting effect and protect the safety of road users.

Ensure durability and easy maintenance

Select weather-resistant solar street light fixtures, adopt modular design, and use long-life components to reduce maintenance costs. The housings of solar street lights are usually made of corrosion- and weather-resistant materials that can withstand harsh weather. The modular design facilitates the quick replacement of faulty parts, and the long-life components reduce the frequency of replacement.

Using lighting simulation tools

Optimize the placement of solar street lights with lighting simulation tools such as Dialux or Relux. Through simulation, you can visualize the effect of the lighting scheme, discover and solve possible dark spots and other problems in advance, avoid rework after construction, and save costs.

Post-installation monitoring and improvement

Installation of an intelligent monitoring system to track the performance of the solar street lights, collect feedback from road users, and continuously improve the lighting design. Intelligent monitoring system can monitor the working status of the lamps and environmental data in real time, alarm in case of failure, and make targeted adjustments to the street lamps according to the feedback to improve the lighting quality.
 

Light Pollution – Effects and Prevention

Light pollution is mainly caused by excessive artificial light irradiated into non-targeted areas. In cities, a large number of street lights, building lighting, billboard lighting and other various light sources emit light, part of which is not effectively utilized, but scattered upward or around. This scattered light is reflected by particles and water vapor in the atmosphere, resulting in the phenomenon of sky glow.

Impacts on humans, animals and plants, and the economy

Light pollution has a significant impact on humans, ecology and the economy. Firstly, blue light in LED lamps inhibits melatonin secretion and interferes with the human biological clock, leading to insomnia and reduced sleep quality, which in turn increases the risk of night driving fatigue and traffic accidents. Secondly, artificial light disrupts the activities of nocturnal insects, affecting their foraging and reproduction, thereby destroying the food chain and threatening the stability of the entire ecosystem. At the same time, it is difficult for plants to adapt to seasonal changes under prolonged light exposure, which affects their growth and health. From an economic perspective, light pollution causes a large amount of energy waste and increases urban costs. Reducing light pollution can help save energy, protect the environment and improve the efficiency of cities.

Preventive measures

In order to reduce light pollution, comprehensive measures should be taken, such as choosing low-brightness, wide-beam lamps with shading function, installing shades to limit the spread of light, and adjusting the brightness through intelligent control systems. With the enhancement of environmental awareness, cities are gradually adopting standardized lighting equipment, and standardizing the design and installation under the guidance of regulations to ensure lighting safety and reduce light pollution at the same time.
 

To summarize, street lighting design involves many key factors, solar street lights with its environmental protection, energy saving, installation and maintenance of convenient advantages, become the ideal choice for street lighting. When street lighting design, fully consider these factors and reasonable use of solar street lights, not only to create a safe and comfortable night environment, but also to contribute to the sustainable development of the city. Choosing solar street lights is to choose a greener, more efficient and more cost-effective street lighting solution, Nokin, as a manufacturer of solar street lights, has a wealth of experience in the industry, and has successfully designed and installed many sets of lighting systems for many countries and regions around the world, if you need to purchase and install solar street lights, please contact Nokin!