As the most energy efficient lighting technology on the market, many home and business owners are interested in learning how LED lighting improves security and safety. It all starts with better system performance.
LED Lighting Improves Security with High Quality Illumination
No technology’s performance is optimized when it is first introduced, and this was also the case for LED lighting. The first LED lights couldn’t match the performance of established options like fluorescent, incandescent, metal halide and high-pressure sodium lights.
That’s no longer the case, to the point where modern LED bulbs provide superior lighting quality, compared to the alternatives. The difference is obvious when comparing LEDs side-by-side with legacy lighting options, and it comes down to a few factors, including:
- Lumen output – LED lights emit more lumens per watt than every other lighting option. In other words, they make more light per unit of energy. This means brighter, more even illumination. Since LED lamps output more light, you can select lower wattage fixtures and get the same output as a legacy fixture.
- Color rending accuracy – Lights are rated for their color rendering capabilities on the color rendering index (CRI). The CRI index scores lamps from 0 to 100, with higher scores for lights that render colors more accurately.High-CRI LED lighting is available for most applications, including parking lot, garage, commercial and security lighting applications. With high-CRI lamps in place, it is easier to identify colors at extended ranges, which has significant safety implications at night.
- Color temperature – LED lighting is also available in a full range of color temperatures, which isn’t the case with legacy technologies. This includes warm, cool, and neutral white color temperatures, which are ideal for visibility purposes.
Add it up and the result is a light that provides better long-range visibility and color visibility at night. That adds up to better safety for pedestrians and motorists. It also supports other security system elements, like surveillance cameras and security patrols. With high brightness security lights in the area, criminals will find it more difficult to avoid detection.
LED Lights Are Durable and Resist Impact Damage and Tampering
LED lamps and fixtures are the most durable on the market and do not include sensitive components like filaments or glass chambers. The bulb is a tiny diode shielded by an optic, and the optic is made from durable polycarbonate or acrylic. This sits on a piece of solid-state circuitry that’s housed by an impact-resistant fixture.
There are no obvious weak points with an LED fixture, so they are much tougher to vandalize.
LED Lights Are Reliable and Always Ready
LED lighting is also more reliable than legacy technologies in several ways. For example:
- LEDs last longer – On average, an LED light will provide 30,000 to 50,000 hours of reliable illumination before the lamp requires replacement. During its life, lumen loss is also minimal, compared to legacy options. With their extended lifespan and steady output, LED lamps offer better reliability than previous technologies.
- LED lights can be instantly switched on and off – LED lighting doesn’t require a warm-up period before it’s switched on, and rapid cycling does not damage the lamp. This makes it ideal for security applications, where lights are kept on permanent standby.
- LED lighting systems can be paired with advanced controls – LED technology is built on modern engineering, so it can be used with a variety of lighting controls. This includes photocells (which power the lights down during the day), timers, and most importantly, occupancy controls. Occupancy controls like motion sensors are particularly valuable for security applications, and because LEDs can be rapidly cycled without issue, you can install occupancy controls wherever you have LED lights in place.
This added reliability means that when your LED lights are needed during a critical moment, they’ll be available.
LED Fixtures are Designed for Minimal Lighting Pollution and Glare
At night, excess glare and light trespass can produce unsafe conditions for people nearby. Excess light pollution also has notable health effects on people and behavioral effects on animals. This includes attracting wildlife into populated areas.
Light pollution and trespass are safety concerns, but LED fixtures are designed to minimize their impact. There are a couple of features that LED fixtures come with to help them do this, including:
- Shielding – Modern LED fixtures are designed with shielding that blocks any light from being emitted into the sky. Shielded fixtures also emit minimal illumination toward the horizon, which reduces glare and light pollution further.
- Directional optics – Unlike other lighting technologies, LED lighting emits directionally. Lighting designers can leverage this advantage, ensuring the fixture only emits in desired directions, such as toward ground level. When used in street lighting applications, for example, LED lights can be aimed away from residential properties and at angles that produce less glare.
With these features, facilities can confine their security lighting to where they need it most, without creating unsafe conditions with excess light pollution.
LED Lamps Are Engineered to Emit Minimal Heat
LED’s safety also has to do with its engineering. LEDs operate using extremely efficient semiconductors that don’t waste energy emitting heat. In fact, many LEDs produce so little heat that they are safe to touch. On the other hand, all other forms of lighting emit enough heat to cause burn injuries.
LED bulbs also contain zero mercury, unlike fluorescent tubes. Mercury is toxic to touch or inhale, and if a fluorescent tube breaks, mercury is immediately released into the environment. That’s why fluorescent lights require a special waste stream for disposal purposes.
Because LEDs contain no toxic chemicals, they do not represent a potential health hazard if one does break.
LED Lighting is Unmatched in Security and Safety
To summarize, LED lighting represents an upgrade over legacy technologies in almost every conceivable way. That includes advantages in security and safety. With their superior lighting performance, reliability, controllability, design and engineering, LED lights provide excellent value when used in security applications. Please contact the experts at LED Spot with any questions.
