The Light of the Street

by Lydia Holly

Title

The Light of the Street

Artist

Lydia Holly

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

This lamppost that is decorated with a floral arrangement is like so many that we see in small towns and large cities alike. This one adorns the main street of Point Pleasant, West Virginia.
A street light, lamppost, street lamp, light standard, or lamp standard is a raised source of light on the edge of a road or walkway, which is used to provide light when it is needed. Modern lamps may also have light-sensitive photocells that activate automatically when light is or is not needed: dusk, dawn, or the onset of dark weather. This function in older lighting systems could have been performed with the aid of a solar dial. Many street light systems are being connected underground instead of wiring from one utility post to another.Early lamps were used by Greek and Roman civilizations where light primarily served the purpose of security, both to protect the wanderer from tripping on the path over something or keeping the potential robbers at bay. At that time oil lamps were used predominantly as they provided a long-lasting and moderate flame. The Romans had a word 'laternarius', which was a term for a slave responsible for lighting the oil lamps in front of their villas. This task remained the responsibility of a designated person up to the Middle Ages where the so-called 'link boys' escorted people from one place to another places through the murky winding streets of medieval towns.

Before incandescent lamps, candle lighting was employed in cities. The earliest lamps required that a lamplighter tour the town at dusk, lighting each of the lamps, but later designs employed ignition devices that would automatically strike the flame when the gas supply was activated.

It is generally accepted that public illumination was ordered in London in 1417 by Sir Henry Barton, Mayor of London though there is no firm evidence of this.[3] Paris was first lit by an order issued in 1524, and, in the beginning of the 16th century, the inhabitants were ordered to keep lights burning in the windows of all houses that faced the streets. By an Act of the Common Council in 1716, all housekeepers, whose houses faced any street, lane, or passage, were required to hang out, every dark night, one or more lights, to burn from six to eleven o'clock, under threat of a penalty of one shilling as a fine for failing to do so.

William Murdoch (sometimes spelled "Murdock") was the first to utilize the flammability of gas for the practical application of lighting. In the early 1790s, while overseeing the use of his company's steam engines in tin mining in Cornwall, Murdoch began experimenting with various types of gas, finally settling on coal-gas as the most effective. He first lit his own house in Redruth, Cornwall in 1792.[4] In 1798, he used gas to light the main building of the Soho Foundry and in 1802 lit the outside in a public display of gas lighting, the lights astonishing the local population.

The first public street lighting with gas was demonstrated in Pall Mall, London on January 28, 1807 by Frederick Albert Winsor.[citation needed] In 1812, Parliament granted a charter to the London and Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company, and the first gas company in the world came into being. Less than two years later, on December 31, 1813, the Westminster Bridge was lit by gas

Following this success, gas lighting spread to other countries. The use of gas lights in Rembrandt Peale's Museum in Baltimore in 1816 was a great success. Baltimore was the first American city with gas streetlights, provided by Peale's Gas Light Company of Baltimore.

The first place outside of London in England to have gas lighting, was Preston, Lancashire in 1825, this was due to the Preston Gaslight Company run by revolutionary Joseph Dunn, who found the most improved way of brighter gas lighting.

Oil-gas appeared in the field as a rival of coal-gas. In 1815, John Taylor patented an apparatus for the decomposition of "oil" and other animal substances. Public attention was attracted to "oil-gas" by the display of the patent apparatus at Apothecary's Hall, by Taylor & Martineau.

The first modern street lamps to use kerosene were introduced in Lviv in what was then the Austrian Empire in 1853. In Brest, street lights with kerosene lamps reappeared in 2009 in the shopping street as a tourist attraction.
Today, street lighting commonly uses high-intensity discharge lamps, often HPS high pressure sodium lamps.[17] Such lamps provide the greatest amount of photopic illumination for the least consumption of electricity. However, when scotopic/photopic light calculations are used, it can be seen how inappropriate HPS lamps are for night lighting. White light sources have been shown to double driver peripheral vision and improve driver brake reaction time by at least 25%; to enable pedestrians to better detect pavement trip hazards[18] and to facilitate visual appraisals of other people associated with interpersonal judgements. Studies comparing metal halide and high-pressure sodium lamps have shown that at equal photopic light levels, a street scene illuminated at night by a metal halide lighting system was reliably seen as brighter and safer than the same scene illuminated by a high pressure sodium system.[19][20][21]

Two national standards now allow for variation in illuminance when using lamps of different spectra. In Australia, HPS lamp performance needs to be reduced by a minimum value of 75%. In the UK, illuminances are reduced with higher values S/P ratio[22][23]

New street lighting technologies, such as LED or induction lights, emit a white light that provides high levels of scotopic lumens allowing street lights with lower wattages and lower photopic lumens to replace existing street lights. However, there have been no formal specifications written around Photopic/Scotopic adjustments for different types of light sources, causing many municipalities and street departments to hold back on implementation of these new technologies until the standards are updated. Eastbourne in East Sussex UK is currently undergoing a project to see 6000 of its street lights converted to LED and will be closely followed by Hastings in early 2014.[24]

Photovoltaic-powered LED luminaires are gaining wider acceptance. Preliminary field tests show that some LED luminaires are energy-efficient and perform well in testing environments.[25]

In 2007, the Civil Twilight Collective created a variant of the conventional LED streetlight, namely the Lunar-resonant streetlight.[26][27] These lights increase or decrease the intensity of the streetlight according to the lunar light. This streetlight design thus reduces energy consumption as well as light pollution.

Major advantages of street lighting includes: prevention of accidents and increase in safety.[38] Studies have shown that darkness results in a large number of crashes and fatalities, especially those involving pedestrians; pedestrian fatalities are 3 to 6.75 times more likely in the dark than in daylight.[39] Street lighting has been found to reduce pedestrian crashes by approximately 50%.[40][41][42]

Furthermore, lighted intersections and highway interchanges tend to have fewer crashes than unlighted intersections and interchanges.[43]Towns, cities, and villages use the unique locations provided by lampposts to hang decorative or commemorative banners.[44]Many communities in the U.S. use lampposts as a tool for fund raising via lamppost banner sponsorship programs first designed by a U.S. based lamppost banner manufacturer.[45]The major criticisms of street lighting are that it can actually cause accidents if misused, and cause light pollution.
Major advantages of street lighting includes: prevention of accidents and increase in safety.[38] Studies have shown that darkness results in a large number of crashes and fatalities, especially those involving pedestrians; pedestrian fatalities are 3 to 6.75 times more likely in the dark than in daylight.[39] Street lighting has been found to reduce pedestrian crashes by approximately 50%.[40][41][42]
Source for the above: Wikipedia

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August 22nd, 2014

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