Tips to Make a Safer Parking Lot
Fundamentals of Good Parking Lot Lighting
If your Baltimore business is open at night, there is no doubt that good parking lot lights offer both aesthetic appeal and safety to your customers, your employees, and yourself. Here we show you how to properly illuminate your parking lot to make it safer.
Intensity and Uniformity
Extremes are never good. An overlit parking lot can make it harder for drivers to see. Parking lot lights should deliver adequate illumination with a minimum of glare.
That being said, it is important to use the right luminaries in the correct layout to help distribute light evenly throughout your parking lot. Otherwise, you will get an uneven patchwork of bright spots with dark shadows in between. Consult professional electricians about the correct ratio for your parking lot lighting system. The maximum ratio should be 3:1.
Efficiency
Look out for alternatives that will benefit your business without spending more than you have to on utility bills. Replacing older lamps with more efficient ones such as LEDs can improve the quality of lighting and save you money.
Type of Lamp
Most common types of lamps found in parking lots include mercury vapor, low-pressure sodium, high-pressure sodium, metal halide and, more recently, LED lights. 
Choose the Right Fixtures
Beyond matching your facilities architecture and style, lighting fixtures should project light downwards toward the surface of the parking area. This means that the light should not be projected upward towards the sky. Contact a reliable electrical company to ask about the best light fixtures for your outdoor spaces.
Compatibility with CCTV
The quality and the color of light impacts the effectiveness of your closed-circuit cameras. Uniformity is critical here. High ratio results in a bad quality image, which makes it harder to gather evidence and identify individuals in the event of a criminal incident.
If you need to light up your parking lot or provide maintenance to the lighting system, do not hesitate to call GN Electric at (410) 893-5560. We are a reliable commercial electric contractor in Baltimore.
