Why Developing Countries Should Invest in Solar Lighting
The progress of humankind is unstoppable. Even with occasional crises, people are continually improving the quality of their existence on Earth. Unfortunately, sometimes they forget about their home planet. The survival of humanity depends on the industry. And this branch of the economy is the biggest consumer of energy and the biggest polluter of the environment. The industry needs vast amounts of natural resources to obtain the final product.
Challenges with Fossil Fuels
The damage that fossil fuels cause to the planet is enormous, and you can find out more on the following web page of National Geographic.
The first problem that arises is pollution, and the second is resource deficiency. Once fossil fuels disappear, the industry will stop. The good thing is that humankind has become aware of this fact. People have started using alternative energy sources, such as wind or solar energy, on time.
Wide Application of Solar Energy
With the help of simple systems that turn the Sun rays into usable energy, solar power has found its way to households and industrial plants. Countries are doing their best to put in place Sun-powered street lighting. These investments will bring huge savings at the state level.
When they first appeared on the market, solar lighting was quite expensive. Over time, these systems have evolved, so they became available to average users. PV panels, which initially cost tens of thousands of dollars, are now affordable to many.
This economic moment is the reason why more and more developing economies are turning to the application of solar power in street lights. As their industries thrive, they need more energy. Given that they must reduce pollution levels (which the world’s leading economies have been doing for a long time), these countries are turning to renewable resources.
Benefits of Solar Energy in Public Lighting
The power obtained from the Sun rays is the basis of all other energies. It is used for machine operation, vehicle movement, heating, and so on. As for the application of the Sun power in street lighting, it’s the direct use of solar energy for lighting the public areas and roads.
Everyone can own a solar lamp with a built-in conversion system. World governments even provide incentives for their residents who decide to use renewable energy resources in their homes and businesses. In public areas and roads, the states have to deal with the installation of street lighting that consumes sunlight.
Quick Return on Investment
Although the potential of sunlight has been known for a long time, it only became commercial six decades ago. It took a lot of time, funds, research, and implementation of new technologies for these systems to hit the market. Today, they are efficient and affordable solution for anyone who wants to move to this renewable resource. For more information about the history of solar lighting, check this web source.
Sunlight is a free, accessible to all, and inexhaustible resource. Yet, the sunlight itself is worth nothing if it doesn’t become usable energy. The systems that perform this conversion represent a high cost. But since the sunlight is free, these systems pay off very quickly.
When the calculation is made, the price of Sun-powered energy is lower than the price of electricity. In the case of public lighting, each lamp is a grid for itself. It collects and stores sunlight and turns it into electric power enough for one lamp to work all night.
Lack of Maintenance
Low maintenance is another reason why solar street lights are growing in implementation. These units are self-sufficient, which means that one unit’s problems can’t cause a failure in other parts of the system. Single repair is much cheaper than servicing a large number of street lamps.
LED bulbs used in solar poles have a much longer service life than regular bulbs. They use the collected energy in a much better way, which makes them more efficient than halogen bulbs. LED lighting can last for years, with no need for frequent globe replacement.
Due to the modular design and lack of wires, solar street poles better withstand bad weather. The battery, which collects the converted energy, is under the ground. There’s almost no risk of interrupting the power supply during the storm or heavy rainfall.
Solution to Lack of Access to Electricity
Each lamp is a small generator of energy for its own needs. Because of that, it’s possible to place them almost anywhere. The only condition is Sun exposure. Lack of installations, wirings, and the need for a physical energy source are the main advantages of solar street poles.
Many developing countries have an unfavorable climate. Some are located in the tropics and have a lot of deserts. Others have huge uninhabited areas through which international roads pass. And some countries don’t have enough funds to provide electricity to their rural parts.
Solar light poles can be the solution to all these problems. Desert or rocky terrains are unsuitable for installing electric poles. As seen on the example of solar street lights for Iraq, this country overcame the electricity issue with Sun-powered public lighting.
In windy and stormy areas, electrical installations can break, leading to frequent grid failures. With Sun-powered light poles, these problems don’t exist. These street lamps don’t have wires but form a compact unit resistant to bad weather. Because they don’t need frequent maintenance, solar street lights are an ideal solution for remote areas. If they were replaced by electric lamps, technicians would have to visit them frequently, change light bulbs, fix the wiring, or repair installations. Their travels to remote areas are high expenses for the government. In solar-powered street lighting, breakdowns occur very rarely, so there is no need for frequent servicing.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Sun-powered grids are slowly but surely taking precedence in the worldwide energy market. Sunlight is free and available to everyone, and its supplies are unlimited. Developed countries have long implemented Sun energy into their industries. Growing markets are increasingly following this trend. Investments in durable and low-maintenance street lighting can bring significant savings.