[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Landscape lighting is one of the best ways to keep your yard safe and easy to navigate at night. Warm, soft outdoor lighting looks visually striking, and it’s also a practical concern. But in the past, landscape lighting has had a penchant for bringing up your energy bill — not very sustainable. Today, new options for energy efficient landscape lighting can let you keep enjoying your yard and patio at night, while reducing your carbon footprint and your energy costs.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1540185681901{margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_column][grd_empty_space height=”20″ height_tablet=”30″ height_mobile=”20″][grd_section_title style=”4″ title=”Making Your Outdoor Lighting More Efficient” font_size=”20px” text_color=”#000000″ el_class=”semibold”]The International Dark Sky Association (IDSA) offers some tips for avoiding over-lighting. This can help you do your part to reduce total light pollution in your area. They recommend directing the light sources efficiency, and using design strategies that eliminate glare. These measures can keep the illumination restricted to one area or object, without wasting energy with too much overspill.
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards also offer provisions regarding outdoor landscape lighting. They recommend keeping light levels at or below the official standards put forth by the Illumination Engineering Society of America (IESA). They also prohibit the use of “luminaires” that put out more than 3500 lumens, along with lighting that spills over across your property lines.
Using the right bulbs can also help increase your lighting’s total energy efficiency. Incandescent light bulbs have been popular for quite some time, but their efficiency is quite low. They also don’t last very long, with a lifespan as short as 750 hours.
One of the most efficient options is light emitting diode (LED) lighting. These rely on the flow of electrons through a semiconductor, usually aluminum-arsenide or gallium-arsenide, that emits light. Their initial cost is higher than other options, but they last for a very long time. They also have good color rendition, meaning they illuminate objects in a way that preserves their actual color.
[/grd_section_title][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][grd_section_title style=”4″ title=”Interested in Efficient Landscape Lighting?” font_size=”20px” text_color=”#000000″ el_class=”semibold”]Call us anytime to find out more about your options for “green,” energy efficient landscape lighting. Lawn irrigation isn’t the only thing we do — we also install beautiful, energy efficient landscape lighting systems for Rhode Island and Massachusetts homeowners.[/grd_section_title][grd_empty_space height=”5″ height_tablet=”5″ height_mobile=”5″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
