An In-depth Look at Bollard and Pathway Lighting

What is Bollard and Pathway Lighting?

Bollard lighting, often called pathway lighting is commonly used for exterior lighting designed for landscaping and pathways. This form of exterior lighting is most typically found in a round or square style post fixture and tends to be between 2ft – 4ft. Due to the bollard and pathway lightings height and desired illumination results, they tend to project light horizontally and/or downward.

Some of the most commonly used bollard and pathway lighting applications utilized today are Metal Halide, High Pressure Sodium, and Mercury Vapor Lamps, which are all forms of High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps. You might also see a few compact fluorescents in non-LED bollard and pathway lighting. Below are a few visual examples of non-LED bollard and pathway lighting applications.

Common Issues in Non-LED Bollard and Pathway Lighting

Metal Halide, High-Pressure Sodium, and Mercury Vapor Lamps are all forms of HID lamps and are the most common non-LED ballard and pathway lighting. These non-LED lamps share common issues you should be aware of.

Energy Cost

Common HID lamps used in bollard and pathway lighting applications have a typical range of 50 watts to 150 watts, with the higher wattage producing higher light output. There are several factors that play a role in the number of wattages that are utilized, such as quantity, spacing, and height. A 70w or 150w HID fixture can cost between $50 and $100 to operate per lamp/year in electricity costs alone.

Lighting Performance

The performance characteristics of HID lamps can vary significantly, depending upon the type that is utilized in your bollard and pathway lighting. If your facility is utilizing High-Pressure Sodium, you could be seeing a longer useful life then some of the other forms of HID due to slower lumen degradation. But due to their fuel structure, they can produce an Orange light with a very low Color Rendering Index.  The illumination produced by operating Metal Halide lamps will initially provide a white light, but with the accelerated lumen degradation common to Metal Halide lamps the overall lifetime of your lamps will decrease and produce a pink illumination that barely provides light.

Maintenance Costs

Due to the fact that bollard and pathway lighting’s main purpose is to provide illumination for pedestrians, maintenance is always a big concern. Not only do you have to worry about the lamp’s lifetime, but these fixtures are generally located on pathways or close to parking lots and can interfere with everyday activities when changing out the lamps and ballasts. These expenses add up fast and over the course of 3 years, you could be looking at $400 in labor and materials to maintain a single bollard or pathway light fixture.

The Benefits of an LED Bollard and Pathway Retrofit

There are valuable benefits to performing an LED retrofit to your organization’s bollard and pathway lighting. Light Emitting Diodes or LED’s generate light utilizing a semiconductor and do not rely on the consumption of a fuel source like an HID lamp. Most LED fixtures utilize multi-point sources which means the fixtures have multiple diodes with individual optics. When compared to the way HID fixtures distribute light, the results in illumination is more evenly distributed across a surface. With this in mind, let’s look at the three most common benefits of an LED Retrofit.

Energy Savings

LED bollard and pathway lighting commonly utilize wattages between 12– 40 watts, which often result in a 40%-85% reduction in energy consumption. This could mean savings of up to $100 per fixture, per year in electricity costs.

For more on an LED’s energy savings, check out the section on Energy Savings on our LED Education Page. 

Lighting Performance

As a result of an LED fixtures multi-point design, you will see a bright evenly distributed light pattern perfect for illuminating areas frequented by pedestrians. The illumination across a given area will vary less and will eliminate the common bright spot produced by HID fixtures. In addition to your evenly displaced illumination, LED’s come in a variety of color temperatures providing a range of options in increasing the visual perception of brightness.

For more on an LED’s lighting performance, check out the section on Lighting Performance on our LED Education Page.

Maintenance Savings

Due to the way LED’s generate light their functional lifespan is much longer. An LED’s generated light output will degrade very slowly over time, and as a result, their functional lifespan can often exceed 100,000 hours. The LED’s lifespan drastically reduces the costs associated with maintaining your bollard and pathway lighting and could result in over $300 in maintenance saving for a single fixture over the course of 3 years.

For more on an LED’s lifespan, check out our blog, Understanding LED Lifespan.

More LED Canopy Lighting Resources to Review

LED Retrofit Education

When narrowing down the best solution for your organization, you will find it to be a challenging endeavor. Because of the thousands of lighting options available in the LED Industry, not all of them offer the same results. With this in mind, we have created an in-depth look at LED retrofits that covers things like;

• What is a turn-key commercial LED retrofit?
• Examples of commercial LED retrofit goals.
• LED lighting Performance
• Commercial applications
• LED energy savings
• LED maintenance Savings
• And so much more!

Read more about LED retrofits here!

LED Light Quality: What are the Advantages Beyond Energy Savings? 

Quality LED Lighting has burst onto the lighting seen in almost every arena: commercial, industrial, retail, residential, the list goes on and on. When most people think about LED lights the first thing that comes to mind is energy efficiency. The perception is that by installing quality LED lights you’re going to drop your energy bills. While this is definitely true (LED bulbs use – on average 75% less energy than their traditional incandescent counterparts), it is only one component of LED lighting. 

In this article, we’ll look at some of the other benefits that you’ll receive if you install an LED lighting retrofit for your organization.

Read the full article here!

Advantages of a Turn-Key LED Lighting Solutions

When people talk about a turnkey lighting solution, what they are talking about is a complex business practice. It is an attitude that influences not only the sale of an LED lighting or retrofit services but its prevailing culture and its approach to the customer experience. It helps shape the company behind it.

In this e-book, we will review what should be included in a turn-key LED retrofit package. It should include an understanding of the customers’ goals, help in selecting the right product, rebate management, and much more

Download the free eBook Here!

Determining Next Steps in an LED Bollard and Pathway Lighting Retrofit

You have weighed the pros and cons of retrofitting your bollard and pathway lighting to LED, and the LED has triumphed. So, now the big question is, what are the next steps in the process? We have a few considerations for you to review.

Have You Considered an LED Bollard and Pathway Lighting Retrofit Partner?

Consider partnering with a commercial lighting service provider that can supply a regional, national, and multi-location LED lighting and electrical project management program. Review these items when vetting a national LED lighting and electrical project management provider.

• Available Resources
• Available Personnel
• Reporting Capabilities
• Data Capturing for lighting and signage components
• Lighting Recommendations
• Product Neutral

Interested in Learning More About an LED Bollard and Pathway Retrofit?

The first step in any LED bollard and pathway lighting project should be to contact a lighting and electrical solutions provider or lighting and electrical project management company that is manufacturer and product neutral. With neutrality comes a higher focus on your needs as opposed to the desire or limitation of selling a specific product.

A LED Retrofit provider should ask you about your project.

• What are your desired results?
• Are you looking at budget or project completion constraints?
• Do you have an energy reduction target?
• Are there lighting performance specifics needed to be taken into consideration?

At Action Services Group, our business model is designed to offer you the maximum ROI while taking your lighting performance, maintenance cost, and energy efficiency into consideration. No solution or product is ever a one size fits all, and we understand the need to customize solutions to meet the organization.

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