Good LED Illumination is Essential for Safety in Multi-level Parking Garages

All parking garages must have good lighting for safety and security. LED lighting provides safe illumination that eliminates shadows and guides drivers through any parking structure. This is extremely important for parking and safely navigating the maze of lanes and stalls in multi-level parking garages.

Underground parking

Your parking garage may be a subterranean parking lot with multiple levels below one or more buildings. This type of garage may need excellent illumination 24/7, especially if it is part of a hospital complex. People park their vehicles in an area that does not receive daylight. They need sufficient light to read signs and find elevators, stairs, doors, and escalators that will carry them into the buildings. Drivers and passengers will also return to their vehicles that must be located easily.

LED illumination will provide the light necessary for all parking levels to help drivers find their way into and out of complex underground parking structures that have marked directional lanes. Drive lanes often appear to be narrow and drivers backing vehicles out of parking spaces must be able to see oncoming traffic. LED overhead or wall lights will help all drivers judge distances from other vehicles. The lights are designed to provide good illumination without a glare.

Structures above ground

Multi-level parking garages above ground can also be a labyrinth of lanes leading in and out of the structure. While these structures may receive some light during the day, they are often used at night. Lighting must be adequate for your clients, shoppers or residents to park and return to their vehicles.

Good lighting is a deterrent to vehicle break-ins and theft. Security cameras are usually placed in strategic areas of parking garages. Good LED illumination helps the cameras see and often record vehicle and pedestrian movements.

High-performance LED ceiling lights can be placed over parking stalls in all parking structures. Special LED light posts are often used for the uncovered rooftop parking space. LED lighting uses semiconductor technology that consumes less energy than standard fluorescent or incandescent lights. LED fixtures last much longer than conventional lights. This results in saving money on utilities and maintenance.

Contact us at Relumination to evaluate your specific needs for LED lighting in parking structures. We will design a lighting solution that will keep drivers and passengers safe and secure in your parking garage.

Why Do I Need Exterior Lighting for My Business?

Exterior lighting might not be something that all business owners consider when purchasing a new facility, warehouse, parking lot, or other outdoor areas for their company. What many do not know is that having outdoor areas with appropriate lighting can positively impact their business in numerous ways.

Exterior lighting has many benefits, so much so that many individuals even consider it to be a necessity. One large reason for this is safety. Customers are more likely to find a business approachable if it appears to be safe for them and/or their families. Lighting can provide that atmosphere of safety. Criminals are less likely to approach individuals or even attempt to break into a business when there is sufficient lighting in the outdoor areas.

Another benefit of exterior lighting is advertisement. As people are commuting home in the evenings after a long day at work or traveling to and from their children’s after-school activities, they are more likely to notice a business if it is well-lit at night. Signs, billboards, and the building itself naturally draw attention when they have the appropriate amount of lighting. Travelers taking notice of the business itself are more likely to make a visit later.

An additional perk of having outdoor lighting for a business is making the conduction of business a more simple process. Whether it be in the early mornings, dusk, or at night, having proper lighting in the parking lot and around the buildings of one’s business makes deliveries, opening and closing of the business, and loading for customers a much simpler process. This not only makes customers feel invited but also makes them more likely to desire to return in the future and recommending the business to their friends and family members.

If you would like more information on exterior lighting, please contact us. We are here to assist you with all of your commercial lighting needs.

Don’t Just Replace Your Light Bulbs: Why Parking Lot Lighting Needs to Be Redesigned Around LEDs

LEDs are a great transformation in lighting, both in the private and public sector. The individual bulbs are more energy-efficient and give a greater degree of control to the operator. They give off less heat, and they last thousands of hours longer than other types of bulbs. But sometimes their brightness and advantages can get in the way of good lighting design. Here are two constraints to plan for when lighting up your parking lots with LEDs.

Bright LEDs create strong shadows.

Bright lighting in potentially dangerous areas creates more good than it creates harm. Parking lots and parking garages with high degrees of illumination deter significant percentages of criminal activity, and it makes people feel safe. But bright light creates harsh shadows, especially if the light is directionally controlled, and the sudden contrast between bright and dim can make it harder to see as people transition to darker areas. Make sure your new lighting design minimizes blind spots and dark patches that can be dangerous for pedestrians and drivers.

Too much brightness can be dangerous in other ways, too. Because the light output of LEDs doesn’t diminish with distance like with other lights, it can increase glare and misperceptions of distance. If you have a lot with tightly-packed, highly reflective cars, this can increase the number of small traffic incidents on your property. Look for designs that minimize glare and any wanted aspects of brightness.

Use LEDs to lower costs instead of increasing illumination too far.

While certain areas need to be brighter for more effective mobility and greater safety, the low price of lighting is making many properties use more light than they necessarily need. When you’re redesigning your lighting system, make sure to find the right balance between increased illumination and decreased expenses. The value of switching to an LED lighting system isn’t just in the brightness; it’s in the long-term savings.

Go to Relumination for more tips about how to design the optimal lighting environment for both your users’ safety and your budget.

Is It Time To Upgrade Your Parking Garage Lighting Fixtures?

As an owner of a property, improving the safety and security of your tenants, clients, guests is likely one of your top priorities. Another top priority of yours should also be saving energy. When energy savings and lighting become the topic of a conversation, people usually discuss switching from the fluorescent light bulbs to LED lighting.

LEDs have a greater energy efficiency, they have a longer period of life, and they will provide outstanding illumination for your parking garage. If you are already using LED lighting in your building, you are probably wondering how you can get the most out of LED lighting for your parking garage.

Building owners will spend billions of dollars on their parking garage lighting and other fixtures. Your parking garage and other areas of your property are operating 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. It is not surprising that the costs are so high when you factor in all the expenses and the countless usage hours. When you take the time to upgrade your traditional parking garage lighting fixtures to the improved LED lighting fixtures, you will see major improvements in regards to security, safety, and your finances.

Safety Is Always Important

LED lighting will provide you with incredible illumination throughout your entire parking garage. When the color rendering is improved, you will be able to better assist people who are walking to and from their vehicles. You will also make pedestrians feel more comfortable because they can see what is taking place in the parking garage. The improved lighting will also provide better results when you need to view your video cameras and security systems.

Finances

LED lighting will provide you with the energy reduction you need to improve your financial savings. You will see a 3/4 reduction in the amount of energy that is consumed on a daily basis. This means you will be able to save over 60 percent in lighting costs. Your LED lights will not consume as much energy as the fluorescent bulbs you are currently using. LEDs can also last for many years without needing to be replaced.

You may think upgrading your parking garage lighting will cost you a significant amount of money, but that will not be the case when you make LED upgrades. Contact us today for more information.

Tips for Proper Parking Lot Lighting

Providing adequate parking is extremely important for any retail store, office building, or other commercial property. When you have a parking lot, it is also very important that it is properly illuminated. There are several tips that you should follow to ensure you provide visitors or tenants with proper lighting in the parking lot.

Adequate Lighting

The first step that you should follow when trying to provide lights to a parking lot is to ensure that there is adequate lighting. Having adequate lighting in a parking lot is important as it will make is much safer.

Not only does it need to have adequate light, but it needs to be evenly distributed throughout the lot.  Not having evenly distributed light can make it very hard to see and drive, which could lead to accidents.  Ideally, you should have automated lights that will turn on once it starts getting dark.  Having lighting that is evenly distributed will also make any onsite security cameras much more effective at picking up images in the lot.

Energy Efficiency

When you are looking to improve the lighting in your parking lot, you should also focus on a lighting solution that is energy efficient. Parking lot lights are frequently illuminated up to 13 hours per day. Because of this, it is very easy to quickly burn through standard light bulbs and run up expensive utility bills. A more affordable and environmentally friendly option would be to invest in LED bulbs that can cut your energy usage in half.

Safer Lighting for Parking Garages

Consider the impression that your business creates when its customers or clients drive into a poorly-lit parking lot. Your customers will feel uncomfortable with dark spot and shadows in your lot and will rush to get into a better-lit location. When the customer leaves, he or she might feel equally unsettled by the prospect of walking through dimly-lit rows of cars. Your business can make its customers feel safer and more at ease while simultaneously saving money and improving customer safety by installing modern LED lighting in its parking facilities.

The existing metal halide or high-pressure sodium lighting fixtures in your lot are effective for good illumination in their immediate vicinities, but that illumination is uneven across large areas that are typical in parking lots. LED parking lot lighting gives you unparalleled control over the distribution of lighting in your lot, regardless of whether the lot is open or a multi-tiered parking structure. You might try to over-light your lot with older lighting technology, but doing so will inevitably affect your neighbors and add to lighting pollution.

Further, your existing lighting technology is wasting money, both in terms of operating capital and maintenance. LED parking lot lighting fixtures can generate the same or better illumination as traditional outdoor lighting with less than half of the electrical energy input. You will see immediate benefits from LED parking lot lights in terms of lower electricity utility bills. LED parking lot lights also continue to generate high quality light for up to 50,000 or more hours of use. Your parking lot lighting maintenance costs will also go down when you install safer LED parking lot lighting.

Perhaps most critically, your customers and clients will appreciate your well-lit parking lot either with a conscious feeling of safety as they move from their vehicles and into your business, or subconsciously with an improved sense of security as they are able to see all areas of your lot with no shadows or dark spots where imagined dangers might be lurking.

Reduce Your Energy Bills And Enhance Your Parking Lot Lighting

Many businesses that have been operating for longer than ten years will likely have some lighting fixtures that have become outdated. When lighting at your business is outdated, you will find yourself paying some very costly energy bills. There was once a time when many businesses did not really think too much about parking lot lighting.

However, parking lot lighting should always be considered a high priority for every business that has a parking lot. A parking lot is the place where employees, customers, etc. park their cars and walk through the doors of your business. Your parking lot lighting needs to be able to provide everyone with a safe and secure location, regardless of what time of day it is.

There are multiple things you will need to consider when it is time to enhance your parking lot lighting:

  • Do you prefer to use bright lights?
  • Do you want lights that will be consistent with their lighting?
  • What type of colors do you want your lights to display?
  • How long will your lights last?
  • How much will it cost for you to have your lights on at all times?

If you really want to understand how beneficial an improved lighting system can be, you should have a full understanding of how your current lighting system has worked over the years. If you are not sure of what type of fixtures you have been using, you should ask one of your maintenance employees.

Enhancing Safety By Upgrading Parking Garage Lighting

As a property owner, two of your primary concerns are reducing costs while enhancing consumer satisfaction. But did you know that you can achieve both of these goals (and more) with one simple appliance switch? If you own a parking garage, whether it is a standalone garage, part of a residential building you own, or a commercial one, one of the best business decisions you can make is upgrading the parking garage lighting to LED options. Doing so will quickly help you realize the two aforementioned goals.

  1. Financial Savings.  Electricity does not come cheap. Especially when you need to power six stories of parking garage floors for 24 hours a day. LED lighting allows you to keep even the darkest corners bright at an incredible reduction in price. Our LED parking garage lighting boasts a 75% reduction in energy consumption which lends to an average of 60% financial savings over traditional lighting.
  2. Improved Safety.  A word about keeping those dark corners lit: It’s a business sense must. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, over 10% of property crimes occur in parking garages. Not to mention that a significant portion of slips and falls occur due to poor lighting conditions. By improving your garages (and other properties) with brighter, more efficient LED options, you can help reduce the legal or liability issues that may arise out of poor lighting situations.

How Exterior Illumination Easily Makes Your Hotel More Inviting

Adding exterior lighting to your hospitality venue is an easy way to create an appealing façade for your building which will draw in more customers and therefore increase revenue. Illuminating the outside of your business is the perfect way to instantly make it look warmer, more inviting, and higher in quality while still being a cost-effective improvement method.

Aesthetics

Highlighting the exterior features of your hotel including the insignia, well-manicured landscaping and greenery, cascading fountains, and available parking areas and thoroughfares automatically elevates the aesthetic quality of your establishment. When the external characteristics of the hotel are accentuated, patrons will be more likely to investigate the internal amenities and choose to stay there.

Safety

We’ve all seen horror movie scenes where the protagonists coast their stalling automobile into the dark, spooky parking lot of a sinister-looking hotel, foreshadowing the ill-fated activities that take place there. Don’t make the mistake of allowing your building to become a stereotypical Bates Motel lookalike by leaving the outside unlit and unwelcoming. No matter how appealing it may be in the daytime hours, after dusk weary travelers will pass up your venue for a brighter, more cheery option. Not to mention, a lack of lighting also presents a safety hazard, increasing the likelihood of customers and staff members to experience  painful trips and falls.

Conscientiousness

Making the investment to have exterior illumination installed at your building speaks highly of you and your establishment. Being conscientious enough to anticipate the aesthetic quality and safety advantages that outside illumination creates, makes your current and potential customers feel more confident in their decision to book a stay with your company.

Fashioning a beautiful eye-catching hospitality establishment that will be the envy of all others has never been easier. Your literal and figurative “lightbulb moment” will help you become the preferred hotel for family vacationers, business gurus, honeymooners, and adventurers of all sorts.