An LED can be too bright.
It can be too cold.
It can create uncomfortable glare.
It can be poorly aimed.
And it can produce more artificial brightness than a particular location actually requires.
The U.S. Department of Energy has specifically noted concerns surrounding glare, sky glow, blue light and outdoor environmental effects as LED street lighting has expanded.
The answer is therefore not simply "install LEDs everywhere and make them as bright as possible."
Good lighting design matters.
Brightness, colour temperature, optical control, mounting height, dimming schedules and the surrounding environment all have to be considered together.
Perhaps the real winner is the warmer LED
This is where the debate becomes less about old versus new.
The technology now exists to create something that previous generations of street-lighting engineers could not easily provide: highly efficient lighting with a much warmer appearance.
A 2700K or 3000K LED can feel substantially softer than a 4000K system while still delivering major efficiency advantages over older sodium installations.
Suffolk, for example, chose 3000K LEDs rather than the 4000K colour temperature used in many earlier LED projects, explicitly citing the potential benefits for flora and fauna.
Dorset has gone further in some situations by specifying LEDs at 2700K or lower depending on environmental zone.
This suggests that the future may not be about choosing between orange sodium and harsh white LEDs.
It may be about choosing the right shade, intensity and distribution of LED light for each environment.
So which era was better?
If the question is purely about efficiency, controllability, maintenance and colour rendering, modern LED technology has substantial advantages.
There is little reason to return wholesale to inefficient older lighting simply because it looks nostalgic.
But if the question is about atmosphere, memory and visual character, the answer becomes much harder.
The orange sodium era created a distinctive nighttime landscape.
It gave streets a particular visual identity.
It made cities look different after dark.
And for people who grew up beneath those lamps, that colour can be tied to memories that no technical specification can replace.
The important thing is that modern technology does not necessarily require us to sacrifice all of that character.
Warm LEDs can provide a compromise.
They can deliver many of the energy and maintenance benefits of modern lighting while producing a softer, more traditional appearance.
And in some locations, carefully designed lighting can do more than simply illuminate a road. It can protect views of the night sky, reduce unnecessary glare, respect historic architecture and limit the impact of artificial light on the surrounding environment.
Perhaps, then, the real debate was never about whether sodium was better than LED.
It was about whether progress had to mean making every street brighter, whiter and colder.
It doesn't.
The future of street lighting may be something in between.
Efficient enough to satisfy modern energy demands.
Precise enough to reduce wasted light.
Flexible enough to dim when streets are quiet.
Accurate enough to show colours naturally.
And warm enough to preserve some of the atmosphere that people remember from the old sodium-lit streets.
So when someone asks which era was better, there may not be a single answer.
The old sodium lights had something modern technology initially struggled to reproduce: character.
LEDs have something the old systems could never match as easily: efficiency, control and flexibility.
The most interesting possibility is that we no longer have to choose between those two qualities.
The street lights of the future could be modern underneath, but warm in appearance.
And perhaps that is the closest thing to getting the best of both eras.
Sources
- Suffolk County Council — LED Streetlighting Upgrade Project
Information on LED street-lighting upgrades, energy savings, expected lamp lifespan, dimming and the use of 3000K LED lighting. - U.S. Department of Energy — Sky Glow Research
Research on how LED street lighting compares with high-pressure sodium lighting in terms of spectrum, light output, uplight and potential effects on sky glow. - Historic England — How Did Candles Light Up Post-War Cambridge?
Background on Cambridge's post-war street-lighting history and the Richardson Candle lamps, including their role in preserving the character of the historic city centre. - Historic England — Richardson Candle Group, Trinity Street, Cambridge
Official heritage information documenting the architectural and historic significance of the Richardson Candle street lamps and their survival despite pressure to replace them with more efficient modern lighting. - Dorset Council — Street Lighting Review and Policy
Information on the use of warmer LED colour temperatures, including 2700K lighting, and comparisons between LED and sodium lighting in terms of energy efficiency and environmental considerations. - U.S. Department of Energy — Application-Specific Lighting
Technical information on outdoor LED lighting, including glare, sky glow, light distribution, dimming and the importance of appropriate lighting design. - Historic England — National Heritage List for England: Richardson Candle Lamps
Official listing information confirming the architectural, historical and cultural significance of Cambridge's Richardson Candle street lights.