Lighting your business parking lot is essential in providing safety for your employees or customers. Having a dark parking lot could increase occurrences such as car accidents and acts of vandalism. Chances are, implementing parking lot lighting was a part of initially constructing your business front years ago. However, over the years, your lighting may have decreased in efficiency, causing major consequences for your business. If you’re not sure whether or not to replace your parking lot lighting, look out for these six signs.
1. Not Energy Efficient
Like many household appliances and cars, it’s important to have energy efficient lighting for your business, including your parking lot lighting. Replacing conventional lighting with LED lighting has many advantages, including providing an energy efficient source for your lighting. LED bulbs can use anywhere from ⅓ to 1/30th of the energy that incandescent or CFL lights use, depending on the size of the light fixture.
2. Lights Burn Out Frequently
How many workers does it take to change a light bulb? None if it hasn’t burned out yet. LED lights have the ability to last more than 50,000 hours, or about eleven years. Within that time, conventional light bulbs will need to be replaced an average of three times, adding an unnecessary amount to the annual budget. It could also cost money to have the bulbs replaced so frequently if your lighting fixture requires a maintenance crew to come and change the bulb. If your parking lot lights are consistently burning out, you may want to look into replacing your light fixtures with LED lighting.
3. Increase in Crime
If you’ve ever been in a situation where you’ve had to walk somewhere alone at night, chances are you’d prefer to walk a well-lit path opposed to one that’s pitch black. The same thing goes for parking lots. Although major crimes are unlikely to take place in a business parking lot, it is likely that insufficient lighting will increase the likelihood of vandalism on your property. A recent study done by the Chicago Department of Transportation found that some neighborhoods saw crime rates increase as much as 134 percent when street lights were out. Providing enough lighting for your parking lot is key in reducing the possibility of crime on your business’s property.
4. Increase in Utility Costs
One of the most beneficial aspects of using LED lighting is the decline in budget spent on electricity bills. The initial sticker price of LED lighting may seem a bit above average compared to conventional light bulbs, but the return on investment is much greater. Because LED light bulbs use up to 90% less power than incandescent bulbs, the cost of energy is much less.
5. Light Pollution
LED lighting is the most ecologically-friendly lighting option there is. Unlike conventional light bulbs, LED bulbs don’t emit mercury or UV rays, which causes less chemicals to be released into the atmosphere and decreases light pollution. Light pollution is caused by excessive and obtrusive artificial light, often leading to a decrease in animal and human health and a waste of energy. LED lighting is made from non-toxic materials, making it eco-friendly. When the LED light bulb eventually does burn out, it can even be recycled.
6. Patches of Dark Spots
When contemplating whether or not to replace your parking lot light fixtures, take a drive around your parking lot at night and see if you run into any dark spots. A sign of a bad lighting fixture is having areas that are extremely bright in some spots, and very dark in others. Using fully shielded lighting fixtures directs light to designated spots and helps cut back on excess light, glare and skyglow, which all contribute to light pollution.
