Effects of Streetlights on the Environment

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Effects of Streetlights on the Environment Introduction Streetlights are made up of metal halide and high-pressure sodium (HPS) lights. HPS is the most commonly used lamp for street lighting and the effects this type of lamp has on the environment ranges from energy consumption in the use of greenhouse gas emissions to pollution of land, water and air due to mercury (LED Magazine 2010). However, the use of streetlights helps the society to maintain security and public safety. It also helps pedestrians see while walking in the streets at night. Therefore, if society is dependant on streetlights, how do we still cut down on energy consumption and other environmental problems while still maintaining security and public safety? Are there any other alternatives to streetlights? There is abundant research done on Light Emitting Diodes (LED) as alternative lighting to HPS and metal halide lights. LED lights have been found to use less than half the energy of traditional streetlights and last five times as longer (LED Magazine 2010). Also, several major cities around the world including Sydney, Australia, San Francisco, California and Barcelona, Spain are switching their streetlights to LED alternatives to help reduce environmental problems and save energy (Herron 2012). Although LED lights help aid in solving environmental problems due to streetlights, they still cause light pollution and other problems in manufacturing and producing. Therefore, the question to address is what type of social implementations can also help reduce environmental problems, while still maintaining public safety and security? Argument Many claims have been made about the reduction of crime due to street lighting. The claim is that with more street lighting, criminals are less likely to act (The City Dark 2012). However, there is not enough evidence to support a direct

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