With widespread technological advancement over the years, a growing number of medical, education and other commercial institutions and organizations are using exterior lighting facilities during the night for illuminating the walkways and surroundings. In fact, proper lighting is also beneficial in the sense that it helps in providing a greater level of security for the occupants and visitors who are biking, walking or driving.
Proper lighting facilities are one of the compulsions on the roads and highways so that the drivers can see better during night time. However, there are several challenges that designers commonly encounter while producing exterior lighting.
Many of the installations ends up providing rather inferior and poor illumination compared to what was originally expected from them. Misapplied, poorly designed, improperly located or defective fixtures can cause harsh and glare shadows which may reduce the safety and security.
One more problem that is commonly encountered is the scarcity of open space to install structures upon which high power lamps can be mounted to illuminate the surroundings. In most cases, some structure comes in the way of the poles and presence of a parallel structure leads to obtrusive light that dampens the end prospects.
Another of a common general problem is the presence of a fair deal of glare. Glare is basically an indicator of ineffective or inefficient light. The best way to combat glare however is to replace the offending fixtures with totally cut off fixtures to make sure there is no glare. The cut off fixtures are typically suited for parking lots, garages and pedestrian walkways.
Similarly, the mercury vapor lamps that were used widely at many places in the past should be avoided as they have a great deal of lumen depreciation. They have a negligible light output and associate a real poor color rendering in the range of 22-52 only.