We've all been a little nervous about making financial decisions that can either spell boon or doom. If you're looking to save money on purchasing solar street lights, we're aware of how you feel.

Street lighting is not easy on the wallet, so if you make the wrong decision about lighting it can make lasting financial impacts.

You may be aware that solar is an option as well. Some people are a little nervous about switching. "It costs more!" We've heard a lot of the same remarks.

Solar street lights are worth the money because they save corporations and cities several thousands of dollars upfront and over time.

How? Read further.

How Solar Street Lights are Worth the Money (it's in the LEDs)

We'll be transparent--on average, a solar light will cost you about 1.5 thousand dollars more for purchase, but the savings ring in on two factors:

• you save on energy bills (none)
• you save on trenching, wiring, and other hidden costs

How much?

It depends. There are a lot of competing light technologies on the market.

Metal halide, mercury vapor, and high-pressure sodium lights all have shorter lifespans than LED lights. Typically, LED fixtures will be coupled with solar panels (and batteries) for optimal energy usage. Here's a table showing the lifespan for different fixtures:

Which means you save more money.

Which is good (we think).

Trench Not, Waste Not

You'll need to purchase a lot more than just the street light. You need to purchase labor hours for digging and connecting the power to the lights.

This is oftentimes more expensive than the light itself.

How much more? 100 feet can cost on average 800 dollars.

However, that's not the case with solar lights. There's no trenching required. "Set it and forget it." Some of our salespeople like to say "They just work."

Trenching tends to be ugly; concrete or pavement is broken apart, electrical boxes are sometimes set up, and then there's the re-paving of the area which doesn't look quite the same.

Plus, that doesn't factor in other costs.

Permit Prices

Sometimes you'll need a permit to trench. Solar street lights are worth the money because you won't need to purchase permits which can range from 500 dollars to 2 thousand or even more.

It just depends on where you're digging and what's in the way. One project we provided solar lights on saved the purchasing company over 90,000 dollars because they needed permits to trench under railroad tracks.

Other projects with solar lighting have saved companies more than half of the original price they would have paid if they decided to trench for traditional lighting.

So, you could either blow several thousand (in most cases) on the labor for trenching and the materials, or you could save that money and invest it somewhere else. Buy yourself a boat to hold a party.

In Conclusion

Solar street lighting is worth the money because it saves corporations, businesses, and municipalities significant amounts of money by avoiding trenching, wiring, and permit fees. Solar lights are incredibly cheap and clean alternatives to traditional power which is slowly starting to be replaced, project by project.

If you'd like to alter your street lighting to solar, please contact us and our solar experts can give you a quote to see how much you'll save. Thanks for reading.