Solar Lights And Solar Technology
Most of you have seen the little solar lights that are used as accent lights to light sidewalks and pathways. This seams to be one of the more common uses for solar lighting, and is usually what most people envision when they hear the term solar lights. Even though these accent lights are very popular there are a lot of other types of solar lights as well. There are commercial perimeter lights, solar flood lights, solar spot lights, motion sensing solar lights, and many others just to name a few.
In fact, many cities are upgrading their street lights to solar power in an effort to save energy and cut costs. Many builders and home owners are also getting on the solar band wagon by using solar powered appliances, heating, and even indoor solar lighting.
Solar technology has only recently in the past few years became practical for use in many lighting applications. In the past solar cells just couldn’t store enough energy to keep most lights shining for very long, but there have been great advancements in solar technology in recent years that have allowed the use of solar power and solar lighting to be available to the common consumer.
These advancements include the increased use of nickel cadmium batteries that are able to store more of the energy that is collected from the solar cells. Also with the creation of LED lights that are extremely energy efficient and are able to put out more light than conventional electric bulbs.
So what are the benefits of using solar lights as opposed to more traditional lighting solutions? The most obvious advantage would be that the energy they use a free, and that it is a renewable source of energy (the sun) that everyone has access to. Of course the re-chargeable nickel cadmium batteries do need to be replaced every couple of years or so, but if you compare the cost of the batteries to the cost of the electricity you will save, you will find that the savings is significant.
Another big advantage to using solar lights over conventional lights is that each light is its own self contained unit. That means that if you have a set of lights, and one of the lights fails, the rest of the lights will continue to operate. Also if the power to your home is interrupted, your solar lights continue to function. You also don’t have to worry about running wires from one light to the next to a power source or worry about having extension cords running everywhere.
As you can see there are many uses for and benefits to using solar lights. We have barely scratched the surface as to what is available in solar lighting.