New LED street lights

[Attercliffe]

Look very good in the snow. Much better than the old yellow ones.

[Cyclecar]

Just gone up outside on Meadowhead.

 

I need blackout curtains............

 

And they are propagating my tomatoes already.....

[Jon26]

Am I right in thinking they're installing fewer actually lampposts than were there previously and they'll be in a different position?

 

Do they mark out where they're going to be installing them and if so what colours/symbols do they use?

 

The lights at the bottom of Chesterfield Road do help to see the road better etc.. It'll be better once they're all done then it should be consistent.

 

Thanks

[the_rudeboy]

Am I right in thinking they're installing fewer actually lampposts than were there previously and they'll be in a different position?

 

Do they mark out where they're going to be installing them and if so what colours/symbols do they use?

 

The lights at the bottom of Chesterfield Road do help to see the road better etc.. It'll be better once they're all done then it should be consistent.

 

Thanks

 

There will be no straightforward answer to that one. Some roads will have less, some will have the same and some will have more.

 

A square with a number in it represents the new location and the column height.

[Jon26]

There will be no straightforward answer to that one. Some roads will have less, some will have the same and some will have more.

 

A square with a number in it represents the new location and the column height.

 

Thank you, that's is very helpful. Knowing the height presumably enables Amey to ascertain that if someone knocks it over it won't go straight through a house window etc..

[Wilson221]

I would think the height of the column is more to do with it's harder to climb up and steal the lantern than anything else, on our estate they replaced the older 5m columns with 6m ones

[the_rudeboy]

The higher the lantern is mounted, the better the light distribution.

[peterhoult]

I am a Street Lighting enthusiast and I frequently travel through your fine city from Chesterfield. LED white light is the way forward. I do however have an issue about the blueness of the light (Colour Temperature). The closer to blue (the higher the colour temperature). (4000-5000K) The more "glary" the light will seem. Count yourselves lucky that the majority of your lights are the "Top Of the Range" WRTL Luma series lantern. This is one of the best Street Lanterns available at the moment. The WRTL Stela (the one that looks like a downturned Football Pitch floodlamp) is supposedly an award-winning design, although I personally HATE this lantern. The Orangetek Terraled and Arialed lantern as used on main roads in nearby Rotherham haven't got as good a "cut-off" system in my opinion. (Cut-off is the term for glare and light control). I would like to see a trend of more "warmer" LEDs being used (2700-3500K), but at the moment these are not as energy-efficient as the "cooler" ones. If anyone's interested there is a lot on this topic on the Philips Lighting website (They did a study and found that "warm white" light was preferred to "cool white"), but unfortunately councils want to save money now instead of waiting a couple of years for Warm White LED technology to develop, so they use the "cooler" LEDs.

Edited May 5, 2015 by peterhoult

[peterhoult]

I have to say at first glance I really, really dislike these lamps, I hope it won't be too bad in the long run but fear it will be awful .

 

I can see the arguments for energy saving, but I have several criticisms:

 

1. The light effect they're chosen makes everything look harsh like a morgue. I know sodium lamps aren't ideal, but at least the yellow colour gave a bit of gentle softness that is appropriate for the night.

 

We surely don't want the night to be as bright as the day 24x7 - do we?

 

Blue frequencies of light disturb sleep and influence Melatonin production. If you want to settle down at night, it's a well established medical fact that you need yellows and Reds - blue decreases Melatonin.

 

And failure to get enough Melatonin means that you lose its cancer suppressing effects. This street lighting could mess up your sleep patters and really make you ill!

 

2. The lamps are positioned very high up. This means that the glare hits you in the eyes wherever you go.

 

3. Will they end up going down the side roads? Will these tall lamps even shine brightly into people's back gardens.

 

4. As a keen amateur astronomer I wonder if I'll ever have the pleasure of seeing a dark winter's night from my back garden ever again. At present my front garden faces south and I can see Orion in the winter. Scrub that forever if they put one of those lights in the street.

 

 

 

 

I'd like to see the following:

 

1. A slightly softer, yellower shade of LED - they do exist!

 

2. Lamps positioned lower and with guards around - so that the light is reflected into the street, not sideways into people's eyes.

 

3. Perhaps reduce the brightness.

 

As a Street Lighting enthusiast from Chesterfield I do travel through your city fairly regularly. I too would like to see a softer yellower shade of LED used (Warm White), but unfortunately the councils go for the option that gives the best energy efficiency i.e. Natural or Cooler White. This has a bluer appearance and will be more "glary" than the Warmer White colour. If you are interested there is a study on White Light (Specifically a survey) done by Philips Lighting in Europe on their web site that found people preferred the Warm White light to Cooler White if they were given the option.

 

Warm White also gives better "Colour Rendering" (90-95%) than Cool White (70-80%). To give an example, Low Pressure Sodium (Orange) is 0% Colour Rendering and High Pressure Sodium (Salmon Pink) is about 25%.

 

Finally, white light can be used at a lower brightness (about 30% lower) than the Sodium light (it's all explained on the Philips site) , and although I haven't been able to find any evidence to support this I'd also say that if Warm White was used it could be even lower still! - Warmer White/Yellower light is just more natural-looking to us than cooler white (Think of the Sun!) - The idea that they say that "Daylight White" which is really "cool" at 5000 K colour temperature is preferred is just nonsense!

Edited May 5, 2015 by peterhoult

[AlexAtkin]

Finally, white light can be used at a lower brightness (about 30% lower) than the Sodium light (it's all explained on the Philips site) , and although I haven't been able to find any evidence to support this I'd also say that if Warm White was used it could be even lower still! - Warmer White/Yellower light is just more natural-looking to us than cooler white (Think of the Sun!) - The idea that they say that "Daylight White" which is really "cool" at 5000 K colour temperature is preferred is just nonsense!

 

There is also evidence to suggest warm white makes you relaxed/sleepy whereas bluer white makes you awake/alert. So it makes WAY more sense to side with blue for street lighting.

 

If it was just about cost then the greener the better as our eyes are more sensitive to green, so its not just about cost.

 

As for CRI, that's FAR more complicated than you are making out. You can have a high CRI from both warm and cool white. http://lowel.tiffen.com/edu/color_temperature_and_rendering_demystified.html The CRI on traditional street lighting was abysmal.

 

Bottom line, as road user ESPECIALLY a cyclist, the new lighting is WAY safer. With the old lights you couldn't tell if that thing in the middle of the road is a stick, pot hole, road kill, or something else. The new lights you can clearly make out any obstructions in the road far into the distance. It also feels much safer as a pedestrian as you can make out facial features on people easier.

Edited May 6, 2015 by AlexAtkin