Parking Lot Lighting Research Articles

Perceptions of Personal Lighting Devices and Associated Behaviors: Shifting Personal Norms and Behavior for Broader Conservation Actions

Anthropogenic light impacts both wildlife and human well-being, and national parks are some of the only remaining large swaths of land where natural dark skies remain. Over the past two decades, a significant amount of science has contributed both to our understanding of these impacts and to engineering advances to reduce negative lighting effects. This has resulted in changes to lighting infrastructure in some national parks, and growth in Dark Sky Certification for many protected areas globally. To date, changing infrastructure, such as street and parking lot lighting, to less intrusive hues and intensities or removing lights altogether have been some of the sustainable changes made in these areas. This study advances our understanding of lighting issues by examining national park visitors’ perceptions of personal lighting use (e.g., headlamps). Specifically, this study explores camper and mountaineer perceptions of personal lighting devices and their impact on social and ecological systems in Grand Teton National Park, USA. During peak visitation in the summer of 2023, 17 mountaineer interviews and 16 general camper interviews took place in the park at night. Results indicate that campers and mountaineers are largely unaware of anthropogenic light impacts on wildlife and humans. However, once informed, they are willing to change their behaviors and reduce the use of personal lighting devices and use more wildlife-friendly lighting with amber or red settings (which, to date, are just emerging and available for general consumers by several companies). These results provide insights for developing educational strategies and personal lighting engineering designs that will ultimately lead to more sustainable normative shifts capable of reducing anthropogenic lighting impacts in parks and beyond.

The Interplay between Parameters of Light Pollution and Energy Efficiency for Outdoor Amenity Lighting

This paper is related to light pollution and the energy efficiency of outdoor amenity lighting. It concerns the standard design assessment parameters of light pollution, the Upward Light Ratio (ULR) and Upward Flux Ratio (UFR), and the classic energy efficiency parameter—Normalized Power Density (NPD). The motivation for this research was the observation of certain inaccuracies related to the applicability and interpretation of these parameters in practice and the lack of connection between parameters of light pollution and energy efficiency. The multi-variant computer simulations of the exemplary large-area parking lot lighting system were conducted. Over four hundred cases were carefully analyzed. Individual cases differ in the shape of the task area, luminaire arrangements, mounting height, luminous intensity distribution, aiming, and maintenance factor. The results confirmed that the criteria values of ULR and UFR are often overestimated for modern luminaires, which emit luminous flux emitted only downwards. In this case, the ULR and UFR values do not exceed the criteria values for even zones with lower ambient brightness. Thus, lighting solutions with much lower energy efficiency easily meet the requirements of these parameters. This situation is not rational. So, it is crucial to make the criteria of ULR and UFR much more stringent in all environmental zones. Moreover, the research confirms a strong positive linear correlation between UFR and NPD (0.92, p < 0.001), which means that light pollution can be reduced by ensuring an appropriate level of energy efficiency. It is a great help in designing sustainable outdoor amenity lighting.

A Multi-Criteria Assessment Procedure for Outdoor Lighting at the Design Stage

This paper presents an attempt at a unified approach for the assessment of outdoor lighting solutions at the design stage. First of all, the lighting criteria for different types of outdoor lighting installations have been carefully described. Despite the differences in criteria, it is possible to find a common ground for the assessment of lighting solutions at the design stage. This is based on the need for the assessment of lighting solutions to be included in the requirements for the luminous environment, light pollution, and energy efficiency. The review and analysis of the standards and reports allows an experimental procedure to be created, the main aim of which is to find the best and most sustainable lighting solution for any outdoor situation. The procedure was tested by the example of an analysis of parking lot lighting solutions. In the case analyzed, 120 solutions were considered. It appeared that, in only 65 cases were the requirements referring to both lighting condition and light pollution met. Finally, based on the lighting energy efficiency assessment, ten solutions were selected as the most suitable. Furthermore, only one solution out of the ten was the most beneficial, taking into account the extra criterion of basic economic cost. The case study confirms that the assessment procedure allows the most beneficial solution to be selected, taking into account the luminous environment, as well as light pollution and energy efficiency criteria. The proposed multi-criteria assessment procedure may be used as a valuable tool by lighting designers to select the most beneficial solution in order to meet the needs of safety, visual efficiency, and comfort, as well as taking into account light pollution and energy efficiency restrictions.

Nesnelerin İnterneti Tabanlı Otopark LED Aydınlatma Sistemi

In order to reduce energy consumption due to lighting, a good control mechanism should be established and more efficient lighting products should be designed. Conventional lighting products consume a lot of energy and pose a threat to the environment. And also, because of these lighting products which are based on time-dependent on-off control mechanism or manually switched on-off mechanism, sufficient efficiency and saving cannot be achieved. In this study, to minimize these drawbacks, a LED driver system and an Internet of Things based control system is presented for parking lot lighting. Instead of conventional lightings, LED lighting is used; and an efficient LED driver circuit is designed with the light level control option. To ensure the synchronous control of LED lighting, Internet of Things, one of the rapidly growing technologies, is integrated into the system. All data from the lighting nodes are sent to the cloud database via internet connections of the wireless sensor nodes. And a control software which is designed processes the data in the cloud database and writes back the light levels of each lighting nodes to the cloud database. As a result, an efficient lighting environment is created, unnecessary lightings are prevented, in case of failure of the lighting nodes necessary repairs can be planned easily, and also necessary statistical reports can be created according to the data locates in the cloud database.

Impacts of average illuminance, spectral distribution, and uniformity on brightness and safety perceptions under parking lot lighting

In addition to supporting visibility, parking lot lighting should enable people to feel safe and secure while they are walking through a parking lot at night. Previously published research has indicated that perceptions of safety and security under outdoor illumination are correlated with perceptions of scene brightness, which in turn are influenced by the light level in the lot, by the spectral distribution of the illumination, and the uniformity of illumination. However, the interactions and interplay among these factors are not well understood. To address this knowledge gap, two laboratory experiments were conducted using a scale model parking lot scene and a controllable light-emitting diode (LED) lighting system that allowed parametric variations in light level, spectrum and uniformity. From the results, a mathematical model of overall brightness and safety perceptions was developed to predict how different lighting configurations are perceived. The model can be used to help specifiers select lighting systems for parking lot illumination that meet the objectives of reinforcing sensations of personal safety while balancing energy use and cost concerns.

DESAIN ENERGI HIBRIDA SOLAR PANEL DAN LISTRIK UNTUK PENERANGAN AREA PARKIR

The design of hybrid energy by utilizing solar energy and electrical energy (PLN) is further research as a source of energy for cell model lighting in the parking area. The electricity generated from the sun through solar panels stored on the battery as the primary source through a hybrid system. The system is designed using two solar panels (110 Wp), Mesonic MF 1500 and Deep cycle 12V / 100Ah batteries to supply 100 - 250-watt parking lot lighting for three to four hours. With this hybrid method, the use of electrical energy for lighting can be supplied complete with solar panels.

Parking lot lighting based upon predictions of scene brightness and personal safety

Providing subjective impressions of security is central to outdoor lighting design. Current parking lot lighting recommendations are based upon photopic illuminances, regardless of spectrum. Scene brightness perception is directly related to impressions of security, and depends upon both light level and spectrum. A provisional model was used to predict scene brightness for three parking lots, each illuminated to different levels by different light sources. Observers judged scene brightness, security and other factors for each lot. The provisional model accurately predicted both scene brightness and security judgements. The lighting associated with the best subjective ratings also had the lowest power density. A design method using ‘brightness illuminance’ is presented, which can lower system costs while maintaining a sense of security by users.

Spectral considerations for outdoor lighting: Designing for perceived scene brightness

Photopic illuminance is the photometric metric used today for specifying parking lot lighting levels. The photopic luminous efficiency function does not represent the spectral sensitivity of the perceived scene brightness of parking lots. Sources with a greater proportion of short-wavelength radiation will be seen as brighter for the same photopic illuminance. Moreover, the psychological benefit of providing people with a sense of safety and security in a parking lot is better correlated with the perceived brightness of the parking lot than with its photopic illuminance. Because photopic illuminance is not predictive of the psychological benefit expected from the parking lot lighting system, electric energy will be unnecessarily wasted if specifications are based upon this metric. Specifying parking lot lighting with a benefit metric based upon perceived scene brightness could reduce electric power requirements as well as the amount of radiant energy reflecting from the pavement and escaping into the night sky. A method of equating brightness for different spectral power distributions is provided.

Management of Urban Parking Lot Energy Efficiency with the Application of Wind Turbine and LED lights

A study of a parking lot lighting of a large manufacturing company in Iowa was implemented to evaluate monthly energy consumption. Mercury light bulbs with 227W ratings on the light poles were replaced with low power energy efficient LEDs to increase the overall efficiency. Additionally, a small scale wind turbine was installed to supply power to experimental light poles. Migration from the current gas bulbs to the LED light results yielded about 60% energy savings, while capital gains due to the generation of wind energy returned about 80% savings per month which recovered initial investments on the assets. The environmental impact of this study cannot be neglected and it also provided opportunity for STEM education in colleges and wind energy awareness in the society in Iowa by showing benefits from current experiments. Details of the methods and analyses should be particularly useful to urban planners because they show how standard references on investment in automobile parking should be modified to include efficient energy management. The authors proposed new way to limit the cost of energy consumptions and environmental pollution on wildlife and human health. Research implications are discussed in terms of the impact of natural features in urban areas for reduction of green house gas emissions and promoting alternative energy sources.

An Evaluation of High Pressure Sodium and Metal Halide Light Sources for Parking Lot Lighting

(1999). An Evaluation of High Pressure Sodium and Metal Halide Light Sources for Parking Lot Lighting. Journal of the Illuminating Engineering Society: Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 16-32.