Many businesses ask us how to make their outdoor parking lot lights more efficient, and for good reason: Parking lot lights use a lot of electricity and stay on hours at a time every day, costing a lot of money.
So what can you do to make them more energy efficient?
Most businesses these days have high-pressure sodium or metal halide lamps in their lots. These types of lights are typically replaced with more-efficient alternative fluorescent lights, but using fluorescents outdoors unfortunately isn’t practical in colder climes like Minnesota. Very cold temps cause fluorescents to lose light output.
There are still ways to boost parking lot light efficiency and conservation. Here are some tips:
- Use timers. To ensure the lights aren’t on more than they need to be, use a timer to control when the lights go on and off. Of course, make sure the timer is set for hours when the lights are actually needed.
- Use automatic controls. Light sensing controls can be used to automatically detect the amount of daylight. When set properly, the lights turn on at dusk and off at dawn. This type of control eliminates the need to constantly adjust a timer for ever-shifting daylight hours.
- Check the lights. It’s possible that the timer may malfunction and cause the lights be longer than need be or not be on when they should be. Do occasional checks to make sure the lights are on at times when they should be and off when they should be.
- Install motion sensors. If the lot is only used sporadically over the course of an evening or night, it may make sense to install motion sensors that dim the lights when nobody is in the lot and then fully illuminate them when someone is walking or driving in the lot.
- Design the lighting carefully. Everything from the placement of the light fixtures to the type of light fixture to the height of the poles will affect the amount of lights and light output needed to adequately light an area. Make sure to only light areas truly needed to be lit, find the most appropriate type of lights, and determine the appropriate light level for that area.
- Keep an eye LED parking lot light developments. The most efficient kind of parking lot light these days are LED lights. They’re estimated to cut electricity use by more than 30% when replacing high-pressure sodium or metal halide lights. However, these lights can cost twice as much as high-pressure sodium or metal halide parking lot lights. Utility rebates don’t always apply to LED parking lot lights.
When was the last time you checked your exterior lighting controls?
