Problems with Street Lighting

5 Minute Read

Street lighting is a functional element of the urban environment and literally a symbol of civilization, ensuring safety and continuity of city life. Like any complex infrastructure, it faces numerous challenges. As spaces rapidly urbanize and urban landscapes expand and transform, systems established decades ago become obsolete.

The problems of modern street lighting extend far beyond archaic control systems and worn-out equipment. They are much deeper and broader, requiring a comprehensive approach and careful analysis to resolve.

Side-by-side comparison showing the bright, focused illumination of LED street lights versus the diffused glow of traditional sodium lamps on an urban street.
Sleek, contemporary composite light poles installed along a city avenue, demonstrating durability and aesthetic integration with the urban landscape

Outdated Systems — Resource Waste, Deterioration, and Harmful Effects

One of the most noticeable problems with street lighting, even in major cities, is the use of worn-out poles. Reinforced concrete, wooden, and metal structures that fail to meet modern requirements can be replaced with strong, lightweight composite poles. Similarly, inefficient halogen and mercury lamps now have an energy-efficient alternative — LED lighting, which also requires more robust poles.

Despite the automation of street lighting using relays, photocells remain vulnerable. Their contamination and false triggering from external light sources, such as car headlights, lead to wasted resources and shortened system lifespan.

Close-up of an advanced GSM Node control panel installed in a street lighting cabinet, showing the digital interface for remote management and monitoring.

Street lighting is characterized by significant energy consumption, which not only increases financial costs but also negatively impacts the environment through greenhouse gas emissions. This problem stems from outdated components and management methods. According to 2021 data, outdoor lighting consumes between 15% and 19% of the world's electricity, accounting for approximately 2.4% of humanity's annual energy resources and 5-6% of total greenhouse gas emissions.1 Given the growing demand for energy, implementing intelligent street lighting systems to reduce energy consumption becomes essential for sustainable urban development.2

Light pollution presents another significant challenge. Lamps operating at full brightness throughout the night contribute to sleep disturbances and circadian rhythm disruptions, increasing the risk of insomnia, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, and other diseases and disorders. Additionally, excessive night illumination disrupts the life processes of plants and animals and negatively affects wildlife migration patterns. 3

Nighttime cityscape featuring properly distributed street lighting that illuminates pedestrian and traffic areas while minimizing light pollution to surrounding buildings and sky

Systematic Approach for Comprehensive Problem Solving

The degradation of urban infrastructure, reduced comfort and safety for residents, and cessation of trade during dark hours are all consequences of failing to modernize street lighting. Uneven lighting due to outdated equipment creates dangerous conditions at night. Modernization using contemporary energy-efficient solutions addresses many street lighting problems.

We have already mentioned replacing lamps and poles, as these parameters are the most visible aspects, but this represents only a small part of the optimization process. Proper positioning of luminaires and improving their light distribution to achieve ideal illumination levels are equally important.

What lies behind these external changes? For a radical transformation, a comprehensive approach to the lighting system is necessary. Introducing innovative control mechanisms allows for flexible brightness adjustment based on external factors and needs. Combining different control methods or making an optimal choice of a single method represents a significant step toward eliminating problems inherent in traditional street lighting.

The common group method of lighting control, which may seem completely inflexible, can be made energy-efficient by reducing energy consumption by 50% through turning off groups of lamps during periods of low traffic — typically during late night hours in residential areas. Group controllers installed in existing control cabinets handle line diagnostics and energy consumption monitoring — therefore, the control system can be improved with relatively modest investment.

Diagram showing the components of an individual street light control system with wireless connectivity, sensors, and dimming capabilities for adaptive lighting.

Building a more sophisticated system is typically undertaken during a fundamental redesign of street lighting and incorporates individual control with flexible brightness adjustment, enabling dimming capabilities. Lighting scenarios can be applied not only within districts but also along avenues, providing both optimal visibility and energy savings. Within this approach, a separate controller is installed for each luminaire, replacing the photocell — for example, the GSM Node with powerful functionality and expanded connectivity options. A modern wireless controller eliminates the problem of false triggering. It responds to environmental signals with unsurpassed accuracy, reducing wasteful resource use and preventing intrusive light pollution. Individual control delivers a high level of efficiency, safety, and comfort.

Conclusion

How to Find Solutions Without Creating New Problems

Solving street lighting problems lies in modernization based on thorough analytics, design, and selection of optimal technologies for each specific locality. It is impossible to implement a completely ready "out-of-the-box" solution without creating new problems. Factors such as traffic intensity, area type, and user needs must be considered.

Using our own developments and supporting all types of data transmission, installation methods, connectors, and interfaces, we offer customized solutions for cities aimed at eliminating lighting problems and ensuring seamless integration into any infrastructure.