Solar street lights convert light energy into electrical energy through solar circuit boards to power the street lights. With the increasing use of energy-saving and environmentally friendly street lights, are solar street lights effective?
1. The advantages of solar street lights
(1) Easy installation: The initial laying of cables in conventional streetlight projects is a very difficult foundation project, which requires excavation of wire trenches, laying of conduit, threading inside conduit, backfilling of soil, restoration of vegetation, etc. Then carry out long-term installation and debugging. If any of the lines have problems, the inspection work is quite complex and may require extensive rework. The requirements for terrain and routes are relatively strict, and the cost of auxiliary materials and labor is high. The installation of solar street lights is relatively simple and cheap: when installing solar energy, there is no need to lay complex lines, only a cement base needs to be made, and then the lamp post can be installed.
(2) Low cost of use: Conventional street lights require high electricity bills for daily use, and require long-term uninterrupted maintenance or replacement of lines and other configurations, with maintenance costs increasing year by year. Solar street lights do not require electricity expenses, only require one investment, and have basically no maintenance costs in the later stage, benefiting in the long run.
(3) Safety: Conventional street lights have safety hazards in terms of construction quality, material aging, abnormal power supply, and conflicts with water, electricity, and gas pipelines. Solar street lights use 12V low-voltage power supply, which is safe and reliable in operation, safe and non hazardous, energy-saving and non consumable, green and environmentally friendly, easy to install, and maintenance free with automatic control.
(4) Energy saving and environmental protection: Solar street lights use sunlight as an energy source without consuming conventional electricity. Solar energy is an inexhaustible clean energy source, which is in line with the national policy of promoting green, energy-saving, and environmental protection.
2. Disadvantages of solar street lights
(1) High cost: Solar street lights require a large initial investment, with a total cost of 3-4 times that of conventional street lights of the same power.
(2) Low energy conversion efficiency: The conversion efficiency of solar photovoltaic cells is about 15% to 19%, and theoretically, the conversion efficiency of silicon solar cells can reach 25%. However, in actual installation, the efficiency may decrease due to obstruction from surrounding buildings.
(3) Greatly influenced by geographical and climatic conditions: Due to relying on the sun to obtain energy, the local geographical, climatic, and weather conditions directly affect the use of street lighting. Long rainy days can affect the lighting, causing the illumination or brightness to not meet the national standards, and even causing the lights to not light up. This is due to insufficient daylight during the day, resulting in a short duration of lighting at night.
(4) Low service life and cost-effectiveness of components: The prices of batteries and controllers are relatively high, and the batteries are not durable enough and must be replaced regularly.
(5) Relatively low brightness: Compared with city circuit lights, solar street lights usually have half power or even lower power, lower brightness, and a general illumination range of 6-7m. Beyond 7m, they will become dim and unclear, unable to meet the needs of expressways and main roads.
