Street Lighting

Street lighting is an important element of lighting design and the necessity of human settlements, considering that it allows citizens to feel themselves in safety (comfortable) at nightfall. It includes:

• Lanterns;
• Floodlights;
• Surface-mounted wall luminaires;
• Light posts;
• Bollards.

Bega

B.Lux

Artemide

Leds-C4

Robers

History of Street Lighting

The first lanterns appeared on the streets of London in 15th century – therefore the Mayor of the city took care of its citizens. In Paris, in the 16th century townsmen arranged lamps at the window which served as street lighting. And in the 1668, the whole system of street lanterns was launched in the Amsterdam, spearheaded by Jan van der Heyden, making it easier to monitor the safety of the city. People saw the true value of the innovation and that idea spread gradually in the Europe and beside its borders.

At the very beginning lamps were made of candles and oil, and this was the reason why they were rather faint; after that kerosene was used. Gas lantern, created by William Merdock, became a real breakthrough in the illumination of night alleys. Today mercury, sodium discharge and incandescent lamps are in common use; also LED-based lighting becomes more and more popular.

Functions

Street light must be marked out from architectural and landscape lights as the task of the last ones is initially decorative: to highlight and emphasize beauty of the building or outer space, become its extension, its artistic element. Street lighting also can be worthy decoration of streets, but they have more important functions.

• Good street lighting helps people keep healthy and feel themselves in safety at night time;
• Illuminated streets decrease crime rate;
• Dangerous situations on the roads arise less;
• It is difficult not to notice possible obstacles on the road.

Protection

As street luminaires are placed outside the house, they are exposed to various weather conditions and therefore should have the highest degree of protection to withstand moisture, dust, heavy wind gusts and strong temperature fluctuations. That’s why, choosing street luminaire, you should pay special attention to the number of IP, typical to one or another product – it must be from 44 to 68. It will sure long service life of luminaire and impeccability of its appearance.

Manufacturers of first-rate street lighting