Area lighting is an essential part of outdoor lighting installation but choose the wrong luminaire or lighting design and you could be generating unnecessary light pollution: at great cost to the environment, and potentially your customers. Red Arrow’s new Zenith provides a simple solution, with its high-performance lens creating a targeted downward 110° beam angle.
Is area lighting a light pollution nuisance?
Area lighting and floodlights are the most common causes of light-pollution related complaints to local authorities in the UK. Yet they are also essential fixtures to keep a wide variety of locations safe and usable after dark, particularly in the depths of winter: from social, public and commercial centres, including car parks, to critical operation centres like transport hubs.
The challenge for electricians installing environmentally-friendly outdoor lighting is to ensure that the design – and the luminaire it uses – target the area that needs to be illuminated and doesn’t spill into surrounding areas. If not, the light risks becoming a ‘statutory nuisance’ under the Clean Neighbourhood and Environment Act 2005 as well as a hazard for wildlife, and could be removed or adjusted after installation, at cost to the customer.
According to research by the British Astronomical Association’s Commission for Dark Skies, at least 30% of outdoor lighting is wasted thanks to poor shielding and positioning, resulting in atmospheric pollutants like sky glow and light intrusion.
That’s why Red Arrow have addressed this issue with the new Zenith architectural wallpack, available from January 2022.
The Zenith: a more environmentally friendly luminaire
The Zenith’s high-performance lens, with a downwards 110° beam angle, works to direct the light to illuminate the desired area, and not the spaces around it, generating less light pollution from sports stadiums, private pathways, public cityscapes, building perimeters and a whole host of other locations where area lighting is key to safety and security. With CCT (colour appearance) switchable between 3000K and 4000K, the luminaire can also be easily set to warmer colour temperatures to complement hard landscaping materials in public space design, or for areas where wildlife needs to be protected, as outlined in the Institute of Lighting Professionals (ILP) and Bat Conversation Trust’s 2018 guide to ecological lighting design.
The Zenith’s environmentally friendly credentials don’t end there: thanks to the latest LED technology, this luminaire is also more energy efficient, operating at 125-139 lumens per watt. The fitting’s lumen output is also switchable, giving installers and designers flexibility for different project requirements and further energy saving. Photocell options are available to save further energy by activating only when there is insufficient daylight. Integral emergency versions offer even greater flexibility, safely lighting to emergency muster points in the event of a mains power failure.
