Construction Deal Update

Whenever homeowners remodel the exterior of their house, many times the landscape designer or deck builder will want to add bright glaring lights. The purpose is usually to highlight an architectural feature on the home or to light up a tree in the garden.

The by-product of all this exterior lighting is light pollution. And it's a growing problem. However, unlike our other massive pollution problems, the light pollution issue can be easily fixed. With the flick of a switch...

What is light pollution?

Light pollution is any light that is shining up into the night sky or out into your neighbor's window. It's misdirected and misused exterior lighting. It creates that "sky glow" effect of an orange-ish haze that wipes out the black night sky and all the stars above. It can cause a glare that affects people walking or driving by the offending source. Finally, another result is what's known as "light trespass." This is when the light from your neighbor's property shines onto and into your own.

But what if you've spent a lot of time and money beautifying the exterior of your home?

You really need to consider your lighting needs. Reducing light pollution does not mean you have to turn off all your exterior lights from dusk to dawn. There are a multitude of options so that you can do your part to help:

• Turn off some or all of your existing exterior lighting
• Install motion sensors on security lights or any lights that shine up and out
• Install timers to turn off exterior lighting after a certain hour
  
• Reduce the wattage in accent, task, and security lighting
• Install quality "dark sky friendly" exterior lighting

It might actually be best to do all of the above. Or some combination that works for the exterior of your house. By installing an exterior light that only shines down, and not out or up, and has fluorescent or halogen bulbs is a great start. Adding motion sensors to those overhead lights and timers to your accent lights would be your next step. Finally, review your light setup to see which ones are crucial and eliminating the ones that are not absolutely necessary.

Why should you worry about light pollution?

Besides the obvious problems of glare and light trespass, excessive exterior lighting requires a lot of energy. More energy consumption means the loss of valuable natural resources and the pollution of our air, water, and ground. Light pollution is harmful to wildlife and they know it can be harmful to people, as well. And, of course, there's the fact that the majority of Americans can never enjoy the beauty of night sky.

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Labels: Electrical Installation, Electricians, Low Voltage Lighting