Why Light a Lot?
Solar Powered Parking Lot Lights
Solar commercial parking lot lights are a great option for adding lighting to your parking areas. But why is parking lighting important?
- Solar Parking Lot Lighting provides security for your property, for vehicles in the lot and for visitors to your facility.
- Parking lots bring cars and people together in the same area. Adding solar powered parking lot lights makes lots safer and limits liability by preventing accidents, as well as trips and slips.
- Lighting is good for business. Your solar commercial parking lot lighting will build visibility and create a sense of security for employees and customers alike. More and more building owners and managers are choosing solar lighting for their parking lots. It shows that they care about the environment, enhances their brand, and attracts new customers or tenants.
What are the benefits of using solar lighting versus traditional lighting?
Easy Installation - Installing traditional lights in an existing lot will require expensive boring or trenching. Then you'll face the added cost of re-paving and restriping. Solar lighting eliminates the need for any underground wiring or trenching.
Reliability - Because our solar parking lot lights with poles are completely independent, they aren't affected by utility power outages. Your lights stay on during black-outs and emergencies
Low Maintenance Costs - Once your solar lighting poles are installed, you won't have any scheduled maintenance for at least 10 years. Then battery replacement is a plug and play swap of the power box.
Energy Savings - You'll never have to wonder how much you'll be paying for electricity in the future. With solar lighting you'll never see a utility bill.
Consider Solar For Your Parking Lot
Consider solar lighting for any parking lot, but especially for:
- New park and ride lots
- Parks and reserves
- Schools with paved lots
- Emergency rally points
- Dark (scary) corners
- Temporary Parking Lots
- Lots with aging underground infrastructure
- Net Zero or LEED facilities
How Our Solar Lighting Overcomes Barriers to Parking Lot Lighting
There are some barriers to lighting parking lots.
Light Pollution and Light Tresspass - Neighbors and local governments might be concerned. They might not want sky glow to spoil their view of the sky. They may also be worried about light encroaching on their property or into their homes. Our solar street lights has solutions that are Dark Sky Compliant. We can also provide shields to prevent light spilling into the wrong places.
Cost - With the new Inflation Reduction Act, investing in solar has never been more affordable. You can recover 30% or more of you solar lighting equipment and installation cost with the Investment Tax Credit.
If you have any questions about lighting your parking lot, please contact us by phone or email. We can assist you in selecting the best solar powered parking lot lights for your needs.
Park Solar Lighting
Our parks and greenways are valuable and solar LED lighting for parks makes them safer and more accessible. Communities are investing in more green spaces to promote health, reduce traffic, and provide recreation opportunities.
Why should parks and trails only be available during daylight hours, when many of us are at work or school?
Safety
One of the main reasons planners include park lighting is safety. Effective trail lighting illuminates obstacles for both pedestrians and bicyclists. You need to pay special attention to lighting wherever pedestrians and vehicles come together. Whether you consider parking lots or paths that cross a roadway, parks can be dangerous. They are likely to include kids, pets, and plenty of distractions.
The Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development in Los Angeles has found that keeping parks open and lit during peak summer night hours can reduce gang violence too.
Increasing Mobility
More often than ever, visitors are using multiuse trails and green spaces for more than just a walk in the park. Commuters are turning to walking, bicycling and other modes of transportation to get to and from work. Commuting from work often means traveling after dark. Commercial solar path lights make multi-use corridors a safer alternative than shared streets.
Where Should You Provide Lighting?
The Rails-to-Trails organization cites AASHTO minimum recommendations for lighting parks. Solar powered park lights can quickly address them.
- Tunnels or at overpasses
- Trailheads
- Bridge entrances and exits
- Public gathering places
- Along streets
- Crosswalks
- Where the path crosses another path or sidewalk
Choosing the Best Park Solar Lights
Usually there isn't much ambient light in parks. Ambient light is lighting that exists from other sources like street lights and retail lighting. This means that you can often use a lower intensity outdoor light. To be sure, the lighting system doesn't have to be the largest available, but it's a mistake to choose lower quality because you need lower light levels.
Quality
Off-the shelf all-in-one solar lighting systems and other "mini" solar lights aren't a viable choice for lighting outdoor spaces intended for public use. You can be sure that a tiny solar panel will deliver a tiny amount of power. Typically, they aren't capable of providing adequate lighting all night, year-round. They often depend on sharply dimming the lights in winter or relying on motion activation. Unfortunately, wildlife and weather can result in motion sensor faults and/or in depleted batteries.
Design
We also recommend overhead lights that will illuminate faces and not just the ground's surface. This provides the safety of bollards but also illuminates faces and other objects. Overall, it creates a much greater feeling of security.
The best commercial solar path lights are configured with a full energy calculation for the project and a lighting design that represents the light levels the system can provide in winter. You should also look for long battery life and weatherization to minimize the cost of maintenance.
Since parks are often targets for vandals, you should also look for systems that are vandal resistant.
Whatever the application, commercial solar lights like the SmartLight light are well suited for the job.
Respecting Nature and the Neighbors
High glare, bright white lights can make a park uninviting, disturb wildlife and bother neighbors. Fonroche can provide you with energy efficient lighting fixtures appropriate for parks. We offer Dark Sky Certified fixtures in a range of color temperatures to provide warmer illumination. We also provide shields to block light from sensitive areas or nearby properties.
