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VARIOUS ASPECTS OF COMMERCIAL PARKING LOT LIGHTING

rodney359 • Jul 21, 2021

If your business is open during late evening or at night, it’s vital to have good commercial parking lot lights ; not only do they enhance the aesthetic appeal of your property, but offer convenience to your patrons. In addition, proper illumination also helps improve the security of your property. Installing just a floodlight or two in your commercial establishment’s outdoor parking lot isn’t sufficient.

If you have the wrong kind of lighting or inadequate lighting, you are just making it easier for miscreants and vandals to lurk in the darker areas of this space. So which is the best way to protect your business, its customers and your employees? Here are some aspects of commercial parking lot lighting you should be aware of:

#1 INTENSITY

The lights in your parking lot should provide a sufficient amount of illumination with very little glare, as that can impact night vision.

#2 UNIFORMITY

The next thing you should be checking is the consistency of the light. If the illumination isn’t uniform, that causes patches of bright spots interspersed with dark shadows. An outdoor lighting expert will be able to provide a suitable solution.

#3 COLOUR

The accuracy with which the light renders colours is important as well. Installing fixtures that throw clean white light makes it easier to distinguish details and colours. LED lights are a good choice for showing colours accurately, both to cameras as well as witnesses.

#4 EFFICIENCY

This is a vital aspect as you need to run the parking lot lights after dark every day and you should opt for energy-efficient lighting solutions. Some of the traditional types of lights commonly found in commercial parking lots include:

  • Mercury vapour – These have poor colour rendition, throw a blue-green light, are inefficient but have a long lamp life.
  • Low-pressure sodium – They have poor colour rendition, throw an orange-yellow light, have a short lamp life but are energy-efficient.
  • High-pressure sodium – These too have poor colour rendition, throw a yellow-amber light, are energy efficient and have a long lamp life.
  • Metal halide – Very good colour rendition, an almost white light, higher efficiency than mercury vapour, medium-efficiency lamps with moderate lamp life.
  • LED – Most facility managers are now gravitating towards LED lights for their parking lots. Just like in the case of indoor lights, replacing older lamps with light emitting diodes offers numerous benefits. LED light fittings are 80% more energy-efficient than all other lamps. While the upfront cost of these fixtures is higher than other lights, they can provide up to 50,000 hours of illumination.

This makes them very cost-effective in the long term and they require minimal maintenance. They are available in many shades and colours and you can opt for cool white light or natural white lights for your parking lot. They show colours more accurately and offer increased visibility.

#5 LESS GLARE

While you want lighting fixtures that complement the overall look and ambience of your facilities, you also want good lighting fixtures that won’t throw a glare. The fixtures should project the light downwards towards the surface of your parking lot and not towards the sky. You would also need to check which local regulations govern outdoor lighting and what types of fixtures can be used in your local area.

#6 COMPATIBILITY WITH CCTV

Today, all commercial complexes have CCTV cameras installed to provide added security to their parking lots. If you want these cameras to be effective, you need to ensure that the right kind of uniform lighting is installed so you get high-quality images. Poor or inadequate lighting will also result in poor quality images, which makes it very difficult to identify suspects and gather evidence in the event of any criminal incident.

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