How are LED Stadium Lights Beneficial for Green Sports Events?

Cheering out loud for the home team, the exhilarating excitement of the crowd of 10k-100k spectators who are eager to see the spectacular performance of the team? Without LED stadium lights, witnessing all these at night is impossible. LED Stadium lights not only help to capture those precious moments but also guarantee energy savings of around 50-75% of the operating expense of conventional stadium lights. They also have more than 50,000 hours lifespan, 2-4 times longer than most sodium vapor and metal halide lamps. All these contribute to significant energy cost savings.



In this article, we will explore the different aspects of LED stadium lights and how upgrading the sports venue to LED lights is beneficial and necessary due to traditional stadium lights' limitations. LED stadium lights' enlightening features are their flexibility and control, durability, advanced lighting controls, good thermal performance, and low installation cost. Let's start by discussing the different types of stadium lights used worldwide.

Types of Lights Used in Sports Stadiums

1. Traditional Stadium Lighting Options

Before the introduction of LED technology, stadiums generally relied on traditional lights. While these lights have many advantages, they also have disadvantages.

• Metal Halide Lamps: Since 1960, metal halide lamps have been widely used for several purposes, such as illuminating sports fields, parking lots, and street lighting. They have a good lifespan (around 15k hours) and can emit white light. Metal Halide lamp works when the arc is passed through a mixture of metal halide and gas like mercury, Xenon, and Argon. Metal halide includes Sodium Chloride, Sodium iodide, and scandium iodide. They have incomparable luminous efficacy (75–100 lumen/watt) compared to incandescent lamps (just 8-10 lumen/watt). They also have CRI 60-70, which is good compared to HPS. MH lamps have been a premium choice for many years, but new technologies such as fluorescence lights or LEDs have now replaced them.

• High-Pressure Sodium (HPS) Lamps:These lights have also been very popular for commercial production since the middle of the 20th century. These lights operate in the most detectable range of the human eye. Hence, less power is required for the effect. It consists of an arc tube much longer than the MH lamps, containing gaseous mixtures of sodium mercury with Xenon as the starting gas. These have longer life spans, i.e., 20-24k hours, and a good efficacy of 75-100 lumens /watt.

• Fluorescent and Halogen Lights:These lights consist of glass tubes with material that interacts with gases, creating a UV light. The invisible light lightens up the phosphorus powder coating, which emits white fluorescent light. Compared to other lights, these lights have relatively low energy consumption and bright and uniform light. Their efficacy is 50-90 lumens /watt, lasting 5k-15k hours. The average CRI is 62-80.

2. The Shift Towards Energy-Efficient Lighting

In 1960, Nick Holonyak Jr invented the red LED light. It was the beginning of the LED revolution, which started in use for white light in the mid-1990s. Today, LED is the most energy-efficient technology with much more significant advantages than any above-stated lights. In LEDs, a semiconductor material converts electricity into light in a small area. LED lights are a combination of multiple light-emitting diodes. An average LED stadium light has hundreds of diodes like this.

These lights are efficient in almost every parameter described above. They are very low-cost, have a considerable life span, and have good lumen intensity and CRI. In addition to these advantages, LED stadium lights have advanced control systems that analyze the intensity requirement and control accordingly. Many stadium owners now realize the importance of LED lights and have switched their lighting sources from traditional to LED ones. These stadiums are then open for green sports events.

Limitations of Traditional Stadium Lighting

Though traditional lights have been used to illuminate the stadium for many years, they have some limitations compared to LEDs, which is why LED stadium lights are widespread.

1. High Energy Consumption and Costs

The utmost limitation these lights have is that they all consume a lot of electrical energy due to the nature of the working principle in these lights. Not only this, these lights consume a significant portion of energy just for the generation of heat rather than light. Compared to the LED Stadium lights, these lights consume 8-10 times more energy. Due to that, traditional stadium lights have much higher operational costs than LEDs, which is an alarming situation for stadium owners.

The life span of traditional stadium lights is around 10-20k hours, which is much less than that of LED stadium lights, resulting in increased frequency of maintenance. It means more cost for bulb replacement as well as the labor required. Not only this, but labor work is also hectic, i.e., each time someone has to go up to change the lights at regular intervals.

2. Poor Light Quality and Performance Issues

Unless LED stadium lights are used, traditional stadium lights produce omnidirectional lights (emitting light in all 360 degrees), which makes them less efficient. At least half of the light needs reflectors to reach the desired area. Another issue with traditional lights is low CRI, which affects not only the spectators' ability to see clearly but also causes strain in their eyes. It also affects the players on the field, who are more prone to making mistakes during the game.

Traditional lights always need a warm-up time of approximately 15 minutes to generate the arc in the lamp before reaching full illumination, which is called " strike-up time.” They turn off and retake strike-up illumination time even when power is interrupted. Since they are not instant-on-off lights, they must be operated longer, consuming more energy.

3. Environmental Drawbacks

Conventional stadium lights consist of high-pressure tubes containing mercury and UV radiation. Mercury can cause eye irritation and other eye-related issues, while UV radiation can cause skin-related issues. Both are highly toxic to human health. Conventional lights also contain radioactive materials like Krypton 85 and thorium. High-intensity discharge lamps do not have proper UV protection filters, which can cause sunburn and serious eye issues.

Since they operate at very high temperatures and pressures, they are more likely to break, and mercury can be released into the environment if not disposed of properly, causing environmental contamination.

Why LED Stadium Lights Are the Best Choice？

There are several reasons why LED stadium lights are the best choice for stadiums. Some of them are given below:

1. Superior Illumination and Performance

LED Stadium lights incorporate high-efficiency LED chips that are more efficient than traditional light, reaching more than 150 lumens /watt. They emit more energy for the same amount, resulting in significantly higher efficiency and better performance. Different chips are used, e.g., SMB, DIP, and COB. For high-power applications like stadium lighting, the most suitable and popular is the COB chip, which provides less space and gives maximum illumination.

Unlike traditional lights emitting omnidirectional light, LED lights produce focused beams that target a specific area without spreading unnecessary light on the ground. They also have a provision to control the beam angles using high-efficiency reflectors near the LED chips. The beam angle can also be adjusted to direct the light in a specific direction according to the nature of the game.

2. Cost and Energy Efficiency

Following are the factors that contribute to energy efficiency and, hence, the running cost of LED Stadium lights:

• LED Stadium lights operate on semiconductor technology, which consumes much less energy than gas tube lights, which consume much more energy in arc generation and powder illumination.

• Unlike MH or HPS lights, LED stadium lights don't emit omnidirectional light, as discussed above. Instead, they ensure precise lighting in the stadium with a bright reflector, maximizing the use of light on the ground. The light can also be directed by adjusting the mounting brackets on the pole.

• LED lights operate at much lower temperatures and no significant pressures, utilizing the maximum amount of electricity for light generation without wasting energy on heat dissipation. This was a big issue in older technology.

• LED stadium lights have lifespans of 50k to over 100k hours and can operate for up to 5 years without maintenance or replacement. Thus decreasing the cost of maintenance and labor.

• Traditional lights always require a warm-up time to reach full illumination. The LED stadium lights work on an instant ON/OFF setup, reaching full brightness instantly. It helps optimize the light's operation time efficiently, reducing unnecessary operation.

• All these factors contribute to an almost 70% decrease in energy usage compared to other options, making them the best choice for green sports events.

3. Adaptability and Smart Controls

LED Stadium uses an intelligent dimming and control system to provide adequate lighting in the stadium, taking into account the operator's convenience. The following are the aspects to check when controlling the LED stadium lighting system.

• Driver:LED drivers supply the correct amount of power the bulb needs. Any voltage fluctuations can cause the bulb to decrease in brightness or overheat. Drivers avoid these issues and ensure a stable color temperature. Many LED drivers, such as Mean Well, inventories, Moso, Philips, etc., are available.

• Regulation:We check the regulation technology of LED stadium lights whenever the dimming power, communication protocol between the sensors, etc., needs to be found. For example, “1-10v / DALI / timer” means the dimming can be changed within the range of 1-10V. It follows the Digital Access Lighting Interface (DALI) Protocol. The timer function allows it to be activated multiple times.

• Beam Angle:The beam angle can also be adjusted by optical lenses on the fixture. The wider the range, the more flexibility it offers in lighting design, and the area needed to be lightened. Many brands offer a wide range of beam angles like 30°/45°/60°/90°/80x140°/Asym 60°.

• Color Temperature:LED lights use a specific Kelvin measurement system to determine their warmness. The warm color is usually 3000K or less. Most companies offer higher color temperatures and a wider range of temperatures to adjust to the surroundings, such as 3000K / 4000K / 5000K / 5700K / 6500 K.

These advantages cannot be ignored when organizing green sports events. Are they not enough to decide whether stadiums should be converted to LEDs?

How LED Stadium Lights Support Sustainability?

1. Reduced Carbon Footprint

Most power is produced by burning fossil fuels like coal, which increases energy usage and risk by emitting hazardous materials like CO2. This increases the need for a lighting system to cope with all the challenges. Upgrading to LED stadium lights can reduce the carbon footprint by burning fewer fossil fuels, resulting in less energy consumption, improved air quality, and fewer hazardous materials.

2. Eliminating Toxic Waste

LED bulbs are designed to meet the needs of the modern world lighting system by optimizing the equally bright lights that consume less energy and are considerably safe for the environment. LED stadium lights are less incandescent than ordinary bulbs, which efficiently heat and can cause fire. They don't have anything like mercury, UV light, or radioactive materials such as krypton 85 and thorium, helping to make stadiums more green and environment friendly.

3. Enhancing Renewable Energy Integration

Standard appliances work on the AC power system commonly available on the grid. However, lights on DC power systems need AC supply to be converted into DC power. Before supplying power, solar power draws energy from an unlimited renewable source—the Sun—and supplies DC power directly to LED stadium lights, eliminating the need for AC conversion and making it more compatible with LED stadium lighting. Solar power eliminates energy usage, cost, and carbon emissions.

Implementation of LED Stadium Lights in Major Sports Venues

1. Case Studies of Green Stadiums

The Wanda Metropolitano stadium in Madrid, Spain, is one of the first-ever stadiums to install a complete LED lighting system. The extravagant lighting system on the roof of the stadium is decorated with an architectural lighting system that creates a gleaming lightning scene for the visitors and also creates a flash lightning system in the facade that is contemporized with sports scene software with lightning in the parking lot; they also ensure that stadium must be visible from far to make it more prominent. Another priority of the stadium administration is to create flexibility in hosting various mainstream sports events to increase profitability and popularity.

Wembley Stadium is another famous and iconic venue in London. It is known for its football ground and numerous sporting events with massive crowds every time. They used traditional lights, which consumed large amounts of energy, thus increasing their energy costs and maintenance expenditures. The backlash they faced made them realize the need for some efficient solution to the increasing problems. It devised a solution to eliminate the emerging issues using LED stadium lights customized to fit previously installed apertures. They reduce operational costs, are environmentally friendly, and have sustainable design.

2. Future Trends in Sports Lighting

In the world of modern artificial intelligence, LED stadium lights have also started being controlled by AI. AI-driven lighting control focuses more on the audience's well-being, analyzing the data from real-time weather conditions, the number of lights available in the stadium, the occupancy level, and the camera feed. It then learns patterns to adjust the lighting to be best suitable for viewers while maintaining high efficiency for cost optimization. AI even tracks the movement of players on the field, keeping the focus point of spectators throughout the game.

Although LED stadium lights require significantly less power, they still draw power from the grid, which causes CO2 emissions—combining solar power results in almost zero dependency on the grid, clean energy, and zero carbon emissions. Although the installation cost will increase due to the panels and battery setup, the almost zero running costs will result in fewer overall expenses over a long span.

Are LED Stadium Lights Beneficial for Green Sports Events?

LED lights have revolutionized the lighting world by providing the best solution for higher power, more efficiency, less energy usage, less carbon emissions, more durability, and smart adjusting options. It is high time that stadium owners upgrade the stadiums to LED lights. The installation cost may be greater than the conventional ones, but in the long run, LED supersedes every parameter, making the future of sports greener and brighter.

If you are looking for LED stadium lights that are great for green sports events, visit the CHz Lighting website. They provide a wide range of integrated, modular, high-power, or small-scale green sports lighting. Their products are durable and have been certified worldwide. Visit their LED stadium lights page!