Protect our Earth by using Solar Power LED Street Lights

Earth Day 2018

In order to emphasize the importance of protecting the environment for the sustainable development in the future, Earth Day Network has established April 22 as the Earth Day. This is not only a brief publicity, it also encourages people from all over the world to implement the idea of protecting the environment. There are many problems with pollution. The obvious ones are air pollution and water pollution. These also broke through our beautiful global environment and caused many species to become endangered. In our daily lives, we can use solar energy equipment such as solar street lights, floodlights, etc., to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Burning fossil fuels will produce many environmentally harmful substances such as Sulphur Dioxide and carbon particles. These substances are the cause of acid rain. Therefore, if we reduce the use of energy coming from coal or oil, there is no need for power plants to increase the production of energy so as to reduce the emission of carbon and other harmful substances.

How to “recycle” energy?

In order to encourage people to install and use solar panels & other renewable energy sources, many regions have used the “sell electricity” or know as Feed-in Tariff policy to induce citizens to install solar energy equipment on rooftops. The energy is first stored in batteries and then sold to electric utilities. Of course, these tenants can also use the electricity directly as street lights and outdoor floodlights.

But is the price of electricity repurchases appreciable? The answer is yes. On average, the cost of repurchasing electricity generated from solar energy is about 25 to 40% higher than that of ordinary electricity use. Although this “sales electricity” plan is deemed effective, but we should pay attention to people who may abuse it and buy a lot of solar panels, which will eventually lead to waste.

LED is the best fit for solar power street lights

How can we use these renewable energy sources? One of the important uses is lighting. There are different types of lamps on the market, such as LED, metal halide, halogen, fluorescent, HPS, etc. The LED is most suitable for solar street lighting. The main reasons are the following.

Energy saving

LED street lights has the highest energy efficiency among the above HID or conventional luminaries. In lighting industry, we quantify the extent of energy saving by means of luminous efficacy. LED has high value of 130 lumens per watt while metal halide is about 65 to 75. This characteristic is especially vital for street lamps as it operates at least 8 to 10 hours per day. The extensive use of LED lights for highways, pavement or square can reduce 50% energy consumption, which in turn reduce the carbon dioxide emission and greenhouse effect.

Durability

From the perspective of environmental protection, the street lights that last longer will cause lesser disposal. LED has 20 years life span if it is operated 10 hours per day, while halogen or HPS can maximally work for 2 to 3 years. Nowadays, many countries, such as US, China, India and Australia, are doing the LED replacement for solar street lamps from HPS, fluorescent and halogen. The outcome is quite fruitful as the replacement rate is unprecedentedly reduced.

To conclude, using LED light is a practical way to help protect our earth because of its solar-power compatibility, high energy efficiency and durability. Although it may not be able to solve the pollution or greenhouse issue immediately, LED does a great help in easing the pressure of using fossil energy.