Manufacturers are putting more effort at making their CCTV systems greener by making advancements in the materials used, transportation and other aspects of the development process. It is important to choose ‘greener’ cameras as they reduce power consumption, thereby saving money. So end users also can contribute towards environment by selecting Eco-friendly cameras for their surveillance purposes. We will discuss some of the ways in which the Camera system can be made more Eco-friendly.
One of the ways to save money is to have more durable cameras installed. Cameras are often victims to vandalism, especially during a crime. Having vandal-proof cameras reduces the risk of damage. Also you may need to install cameras that would be subjected to harsh weather. So having cameras with protective casing or at least IP66 rating for water and dust resistance is advisable as you can use such cameras for longer duration with minimum maintenance.
Intelligent Motion Detection
Many cameras nowadays come with some form of Video Motion Detection(VMD) capabilities. Sometimes these cameras trigger false alarms due to small animals moving into the screen. Such alarms trigger recording in the hard drive, thereby increasing power consumption. But some manufacturers are coming out with products that feature advanced VDM where motion detection is triggered only when the object is of a particular size. This reduces false alarms caused by small animals coming into the frame.
IR LED cameras vs. Low-light cameras
If you need to monitor the space during night time or in low light you have two options to choose from. You can either choose cameras with IR LEDs which enables the camera to record videos using infrared radiation, producing a black and white image of the premises. This system consumes more power as power is needed to keep the IR LEDs on. Alternatively you can use low-light cameras. Such cameras do not have any extra LED bulbs, thus requiring less power. These cameras, for example the Hikvision Darkfighter are extremely sensitive to light and produces colour images even in ultra low-light situations. Note that not only these cameras consume less power, but they also record colour images in the night and other low light conditions. However these cameras record more noise and the amount of noise varies from brand to brand.
Remote monitoring
In some cases a user may need to monitor multiple sites or have to travel between places and it is not possible to sit in front of the monitor all the time. For such a situation remote monitoring can come handy where the user can see the live or recorded camera feed on his mobile or laptop. This reduces traveling costs, thereby saving money. Most manufacturers come with their mobile app to view the CCTV footage.
Using Power over Ethernet
Using PoE allows to use the same wire to send the camera feed as well as provide power to the camera. Such systems are less costly to implement and easier to manage.
Using some of the suggestions listed above can result in a lot of savings. Obviously implementing all of the suggestions may not be possible. But even some of them can cause a cut in your expenses.