Editing Street light (section)

===Arc lamps===
[[File:Yablochkov candles illuminating Avenue de l'Opera ca1878.jpg|thumb|Demonstration of [[Pavel Yablochkov|Yablochkov's]] [[Yablochkov candle|arc lamp]] on the Avenue de l'Opera in Paris (1878), the first form of electric street lighting]]
[[File:BCBG Lamppost 01.JPG|right|thumb|upright|Heritage lamp post in the [[City Botanic Gardens]], [[Brisbane]]]]
The first electric street lighting employed [[arc lamps]], initially the "electric candle", "Jablotchkoff candle", or "[[Yablochkov candle]]", developed by Russian [[Pavel Yablochkov]] in 1875. This was a carbon arc lamp employing [[alternating current]], which ensured that both electrodes were consumed at equal rates. In 1876, the common council of the city of [[Los Angeles]] ordered four arc lights installed in various places in the fledgling town for street lighting.<ref>William H. Workman, The City That Grew (1929) Mirror-Press, Los Angeles, p.</ref>

On 30 May 1878, the first electric streetlights in Paris were installed on the avenue de l'Opera and the [[Place Charles de Gaulle|Place de l'Étoile]], around the [[Arc de Triomphe]], to celebrate the opening of the [[Exposition Universelle (1878)|Paris Universal Exposition]]. In 1881, to coincide with the Paris International Exposition of Electricity, streetlights were installed on the major boulevards.{{Sfn|Fierro|1996|page=628}}

The first streets in London lit with the electrical arc lamp were by the [[Holborn Viaduct]] and the [[Thames Embankment]] in 1878. More than 4,000 were in use by 1881, though by then an improved differential arc lamp had been developed by [[Friedrich von Hefner-Alteneck]] of [[Siemens & Halske]]. The United States was quick in adopting arc lighting, and by 1890 over 130,000 were in operation in the US, commonly installed in exceptionally tall [[moonlight tower]]s.

Arc lights had two major disadvantages. First, they emit an intense and harsh light which, although useful at industrial sites like dockyards, was discomforting in ordinary city streets. Second, they are maintenance-intensive, as carbon electrodes burn away swiftly. With the development of cheap, reliable and bright [[incandescent light bulb]]s at the end of the 19th century, arc lights passed out of use for street lighting, but remained in industrial use longer.