A few years ago, the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) had a power outage that affected several terminals, halted airport operations, caused major security problems throughout the entire airport, and forced 21 airlines to cancel their flights in the span of a few hours. As an airport that sees traffic of 70 million commuters per year, approximately 191 thousand daily on average, safety is an utmost priority at LAX. A power outage in the middle of transportation operations severely hampers travel for everyone. The power was disrupted approximately 7:30 PM, leaving many stranded and some in the dark, literally. Many passengers needed to be re-screened for security. Thankfully, everyone was safe with the power outage. Costly underground power line repair work began the next day. Still, it goes to show that disaster can strike at any moment, and the best way to respond quickly to disaster it is to be prepared and have the necessary equipment to help people during the emergency. Deploying temporary lighting would have been a proper emergency response for LAX, which is where Greenshine comes in.

Greenshine and its employees have been in the lighting business for several years, so we tend to come across some quirky cases of lighting needs such as the one above. Lighting isn't always simplistic—for instance, it's not always easy to know what type of bulb and pole height you'll need for a parking lot—but the good news is that there are specific models of lights that are built for temporary usages, like in an emergency. 

When trying to solve problems of logistics, sufficient lighting, pole placement, which technology to use, and whether or not your project will need lights that can be relocated, it's important to have a lighting solution that ticks all the necessary boxes. That's why Greenshine New Energy has one of it's largest problem-solving solutions for any business entity or city that needs lighting that can be moved almost anywhere: temporary parking lot lights. Here's a brief into to these modern marvels of radiance.

How Do Temporary Parking Lot Lights Improve a Business?

The beauty of these temporary lights (we call them Portas) is that they can be moved around with proper equipment to be placed where commuter traffic needs high visibility. Sometimes areas and lots need sufficient lighting in different areas to accommodate foot traffic or workers, and installing permanent lights stuck in the ground just doesn't solve the problem of low visibility in several different areas. Sometimes light needs to be in a different place at a different time, and so portability is a necessity.

We've had a few projects in the past where temporary parking lot lights improved the grounds of a business. One such lighting project at Lake Elsinore deterred crime, helped a construction crew finish their project, and saved the city thousands of dollars to allocate to different projects. We'll call that a win for Lake Elsinore and Greenshine all because of forward-thinking and technological innovation in our lighting systems. We're happy to be in business for business using these special lights.

You might be asking, however, how these lights work? They're manufactured with efficiency in mind and the highest-quality of commercially-available materials, so read further to learn more about how these lights can improve your business or city.

Ultra-Bright LEDs are the Secret to Success

Greenshine had a project in Arizona with Love's Truck Stop. The portable lighting project saved the company over 90 thousand dollars and did a much better job lighting the grounds than the workers' flashlights because of the extremely bright LED fixtures. The reason why LEDs are best for this application is that they produce higher quality lumens than other fixture types such as HPS. LEDs produce higher quality lumens because of a high color rendering index, or the ability to accurately reproduce the true color of an object in illumination. A CRI is measured on a 0-100 scale, 0 being the poorest quality light and 100 being a perfect light source. Greenshine provides LED fixtures with 80+ CRI, so visibility and color accuracy are extremely high. There's no need for flashlights, headlamps, or loud generators for lighting.

Energy Bills? What Energy Bills?

Pulling energy from the sun and re-using it not only makes for a unique light solution, but it also saves on energy bills! HPS lights can cost about 20 dollars a month, per light to operate at 9,500 lumens (with poor CRI). Temporary lights with solar panels transfer energy from the sun's rays, so your energy bill in comparison is zero per month. 

In a ten-light system, that's about 2,400 a year. Averages and individual results will vary, but rest assured that whatever energy bill you'll pay for grid-tie lighting will exceed your bills for solar lighting. 

Solar Technology Keeps Getting Better and Better

Solar technology used to be incredibly inefficient. In the 1960s, the highest-quality silicon panels were about 10% efficient. Due to improvements in manufacturing with silicon, panels saw much bigger increases in efficiency. The most commercially available panels nowadays are about 20% efficient which is the kind Greenshine uses in their panes. Slight advances in technology and sophisticated methods have pushed efficiencies to higher limits, and solar power is still in development.

In addition to increases in efficiency, the price per watt produced for a panel has plummeted. In the mid-1970s, the price for a watt of energy produced by a solar panel was approximately 77 dollars for one watt of power. Today, a watt costs around 13 cents. That's quite a dramatic drop, and fantastic for improving a business since the costs for solar drop about 75% every 10 years as according to Swanson's law.

In the future, perovskite solar cells will be well-developed and in mass production, likely surpassing silicon as the base element for solar energy. We'll eventually see mass-produced solar cells of about 30% efficiency, meaning to operate the same lights, panels will be smaller, cheaper, and will cost less to ship and install.

In Conclusion

Solar has been paving a way for a newer, cleaner energy. While it's likely secondary to project budgets, timelines, and bottom lines, using renewable energy for your temporary parking lot lights is something to feel good about. You'll see safety increase, bills disappear, and perhaps a little positive attention from people as they recognize you've made a step towards a cleaner future. It's just a part of what happens when you stick with lighting trends that Greenshine is standardizing for businesses throughout the US.

If you're in need of temporary parking lot lights for your business to complete projects and bring sufficient lighting to your area, you're in luck. Our Porta series does just that, and we're fully prepared to provide a quote for your business. Or, if you'd like to learn a lot more about how our technology operates, feel free to download our solar lighting guide.

Join us in the trend of going green, increasing safety, saving money, and cracking smiles with solar today. We can't wait for you to check off the lighting project on your "to do" list with glee.