When you go to a gas station, chances are you don’t give much thought to the station’s lighting unless you’re there at night. Even then, your mind may not be too preoccupied with the lighting, as you are likely thinking about other things. However, there is a lot that goes into gas station lighting that you may not have considered. There are requirements and standards to be met in order to ensure that gas stations are not only efficiently lit, but also safe and secure. With this in mind, you may change the way you see gas stations, and you may even notice when a station steps up their lighting standards to make a better experience for their customers.

Basic Gas Station Lighting Standards

At gas stations, there are a few rules for lighting that should be followed to ensure safety and energy conservation. As these stations are often open late into the night, if not all night, they use quite a lot of energy, making proper lighting standards a must. There is a bit of a push and pull between the brightness of the lights, and not choosing bulbs that burn bright but go out quickly. With this in mind, the basic gas station lighting standards include:

•  Adequate Lighting for Visibility and Safety

•  Power Conservation

•  Low Maintenance

Types of Lighting Used for Gas Stations

At gas stations, there is one standard type of lighting: canopy lighting. Due to the setup of a gas station and the functionality of one, this type of lighting is the easiest and most efficient one to use.

Some gas stations may utilize “lamp post lighting” or lighting in which pumps are clustered around an industrial street lamp or lamp post. This style is quickly dying out, though, as canopy lighting is gaining more and more popularity across the country. Due to its sleeker design, set up, and efficiency, canopy lighting is seen as a better fit for modern fill-up stations.  

Canopy lighting, as opposed to lamp post lighting is executed by erecting a canopy or “ceiling” that completely covers the pumps of a gas station. This canopy is held up my sturdy pillars where the pumps are most often stationed as well. Within the canopy are super-bright bulbs that bathe the entire station in light, not just the pumps. This gives customers visibility both from the street and within the actual station, cutting down on shadows and dark areas where people can hide or lurk, especially at night.  

One supplier of canopy lighting is ATG Electronics. They’ve recently debuted the eLucent Nebula Canopy, which transforms the way gas station canopies are seen. This new design is sleek and beautiful, with a one-inch profile that gives any gas station an enviable minimalist aesthetic. Easily set up, great for the environment, and a total money-saver, this product is making some serious positive change for gas stations in Southern California and beyond.

If you must use a “lamppost lighting” gas station, be sure to use it during daylight hours to avoid dangerous situations!

Benefits of Proper Lighting for Gas Stations

Proper lighting at gas stations comes with a number of benefits both for the patrons and the business itself. Aside from gas prices and similar factors, lighting does play a major part in how well any one gas station does business-wise. Here are some of the benefits proper lighting can offer:

•  More Customers: That’s right, the better lit the gas station is, the more customers will flock to it. This is primarily because more light means more safety, or a better feeling of safety overall. When things are well-lit, there is a much lower risk of theft, assault, and other serious crimes and issues from happening, making customers more likely to choose a well-lit station over, say, a dimmer option across the street.

•  More Safety: This may seem redundant, but a feeling of safety and actual safety are very different. The truth is that a properly-lit station won’t only make a customer feel safe, it will actually make them safer. This is especially true for vulnerable customers such as teens and young adults, and women of varying ages getting gas by themselves. Where there’s more light, security cameras have better visibility, and criminals are less likely to act where they can be found out. In addition, there’s safety in numbers: more customers mean more people to look out for one another, which makes the environment much safer overall!

•  Better Advertisement for the Main Product Fuel: The main product fuel of a specific gas station will also have better advertisement thanks to proper lighting. It’s a great way to advertise and get the word out on new products and prices, which can attract even more customers.

Proper lighting for a gas station doesn’t have to be luxury. With new products and suppliers, canopy lighting is affordable and accessible to all gas stations and fuel suppliers. It’s safer, easier, and saves more energy, making it worthwhile for the environment as well.