Orange or white street lighting?

Question

Which do you prefer? I quite like white myself, it gives a less distorted view of the surroundings.

The typical orange street lamps throw light in all directions, including upwards, which is a waste and causes terrible light pollution even in a small village. A downward-concentrated cone of near-white light gives better colour perception and can be run on the same or less power, what's more important in the inner-cities these days? Being able to see the thugs and stolen vehicles properly or giving drivers 10% better lighting in foggy conditions?

Answer 1

The old argument about low pressure sodium lamps giving better visibility in fog doesn't carry much weight these days. We don't have the pea-soupers of old and they weren't really any better at penetrating fog enough to illuminate the carriageway.

Modern street light heads are far better designed than they used to be.
I totally agree with your contributors that the yellow (let's not be pedantic about amber - sodium glows with a yellow light) lights are useless regarding identification of criminal activities. On a dull wet winter evening these things always give a depressing "Andy Capp" type feel to my local roads.

Also, they're almost always designed so that half the light is thrown into the sky. That's a criminal waste itself.

Give me modern mercury vapour street lights with a "total cut off" shield that throws all the (nice white) light onto the road. They're safer, more efficient and don't pollute the night sky, so I can see the stars.

Answer 2

The orange or sodium vapor lamps distort the colors that you see, but they are softer on the eyes, with less glare. They also use less electricity to operate, that is why you see them.

The mercury vapor, or multi-vapor lamps will put out a whiter light and appear brighter, but they cost a little more to operate.

I favor the mercury lamps myself, I just witnessed a theft and gave the cops a description of the car, and I thought it was white and it turned out to be light tan, but it was dark and there was a sodium vapor street light and it messed up by description of the vehicle.

good luck

Answer 3

I'm undecided actually, orange (sodium) lights are kinda weird, but give a different perspective on things. Sodium lights are supposed to be better in fog I think.

Did you know that if say you have a red car, and you repaint part of the car using cheap car paint - it appears to be the same colour under white/ daylight but under orange (sodium) lights where everything appears as shades of grey, you can see a distinct difference in the colour...!

With more expensive car paints this doesn't happen.

Answer 4

I used to live on Phoenix and somebody told me that the orange streetl ights give off less light polution.

Also, I don't know if you know this or not, but did you know that military bases use the orange lights because if the base were to be attacked, the orange lights emit no (or atleast less) after glow light after they are shut off. This makes it harder for the attacker to see with night vision or regular vision or whatever. I always wondered why they used the orange lights, and once i learned that i didnt dislike them as much.

Answer 5

Amber, not orange. Or white. Amber gives better contrast in bad weather. I'd go with amber. But if there is no amber, go with white.

Answer 6

Rubbish.
Both are rubbish.
I say you can't beat black.