Here’s an image I often use when explaining the difference between sky friendly and just plain unfriendly outdoor lighting. Note that a full 50% of the light emitted (and energy consumed) by typical outdoor lights goes straight up into the night sky and never makes contact with the ground. This is the primary cause of light pollution. The next thing to notice is what is shown as the ‘glare zone’. This is light typically crosses property lines and shines into the neighbor windows. If you’re a bit closer to the fixture, this is light that shines into your eyes. Let me state for the record, ‘glare is never good’. Glare always reduces visibility

So, from the accompanying image, you can clearly see that typical, non-sky friendly outdoor lighting is very wasteful and only converts a small amount of the energy consumed into usable light. A mere 40% of the light emitted by this example fixture would actually illuminate the ground beneath it in a visually helpful way. 40%. The other 60% (the majority) is either completely wasted or actually decreases night time visibility. Why would anyone install such inefficient and ineffective lighting? There are many reasons, but I think the main reason is simply the way outdoor lighting is typically chosen. Looks. People choose their outood light fixtures based on how the fixture looks in day light. Almost no consideration is given to how the light fixtures will actually perform at night. This is a sad but true situation. The reason for this, is because though people have been using light their entire lives, most people know precious little about lighting and visibility (though they often think they’re experts).

I don’t need to tell you how expensive lighting can be. Anybody who receives a monthly utility bill is well aware of the rising costs associated with it. Outdoor lighting is often a sizable portion of the bill. Would you be interested in learning how to cut the costs associated with your outdoor lights? Significantly? Say, as much as 99%? I thought that would grab your attention. Read on for some simple steps you can take to immediately start slashing your outdoor lighting costs. Note: **A number of these ideas are applicable to interior lighting as well… allowing for further savings.

The first thing to understand is how money can be wasted on outdoor lighting. This will give you a better picture of how to plug the gaps and close the costs. Many fixtures provide very little control over the light they produce. These fixtures typically are constructed with a significant amount of glass. This allows light to shine through in many (often unnecessary) directions. For example, there is little benefit in allowing light to shine up into the night sky. This results in light pollution and a significant degradation of views of the night sky. By choosing a full cutoff outdoor light fixtures that aims light down on the ground (where we walk and drive), we can reduce the amount of light generated (and energy consumed) by as much as 50%. How? Well, since we just switched to full cutoff/down light only fixtures, we are now putting all the light that we produce on the ground. As half of the light used to be going into the neighbors yard or the night sky, we now have much more light on the ground for the same amount of electricity consumed, we now have the opportunity to reduce the wattage of the light bulbs used by up to 50%. This is a biggie, that’ll have an immediate payoff on all subsequent utility bills.

Our next idea takes advantage of the wonderful versatility of the human eye. Our eyes are quite capable of seeing in low light levels. As such, many homeowners and business owners find that their current lighting levels are excessive. One only need drive to a nearby shopping area or gas station to see examples of this kind of excess. For home lighting, do you really need to use 100 watt light bulbs? I’ll bet if you switched to 75 watts, you’d find that you could still see quite well. Whatever your current light level is, try the next lower level. In many cases, visibility is not hampered by slightly less ground illumination. This claim is bolstered by the reduced glare from your earlier switch to full cutoff / down light only exterior fixtures.

The next steps, take advantage of some of the newer technologies that have recently hit the market. Compact fluorescent and LED light bulbs use considerably less energy than their older incandescent counterparts. In many cases, you can save as much as 75% of electric consumption with no drop in lumen levels. The cost of LED light bulbs has dropped significantly in recent years and is expected to drop further as product volumes increase. LED’s, because of their directional nature, are an ideal for use in recessed lights and downlight wall sconces. LED’s have an added benefit of long life, so you can pretty much install them and forget about them. Many are rated for 50,000 to 100,000 hours of use, so, we’re talking years, if not decades before they’re expected to fail. Compact fluorescent light bulbs or CF bulbs also use far less energy than traditional incandescent light bulbs. The also have a significantly longer life than incandescents (though nowhere near as long as LED’s).

The final idea is actually my favorite. Install motion sensors to control the operation of your home lights. Think about this for a moment. A photocell (used on many homes and businesses), turns lights on as light levels drop (at dusk) and then turns them off again when light levels rise (at dawn). Dusk to dawn operation means that your lights will be turned on an average of 12 hours each day. Considering that there is nobody outside of your house for most of this time, doesn’t this seem just a bit excessive and wasteful? Well, it is. Wouldn’t it be great if you could keep your lights off most of the time and simply have them turn on automatically whenever somebody was outside? Well, you can. The technology isn’t exactly new, but then again, it isn’t exactly the most prevelant either. Motion Sensors can do just this. Motion sensors use a miniscule amount of energy to scan for activity outside your home of business. When activity is detected, the lights are turned simply turned on. So, you go from almost zero electric consumption to full operation in the blink of an eye. Now, as visitors approach or leave your home, all your lights are on… directing light where needed. What a concept, huh? Motion sensors also address another issue commonly associated with outdoor lighting, security. Many people feel that they need to keep their outdoor lights on all not long in order to keep intruders away. While there has never been any significant studies done to validate this assumption, many people assume that outdoor lights will (somehow) make them safer. We won’t go into any attempt to debunk this commonly held belief. Interested readers can Dr. Barry Clark’s call for Mandatory Outdoor Lighting Limits. Anyway, just remember that most crime happens during the day, when the brightest light of them all, our Sun is fully illuminated. So, if the Sun can’t prevent crime, neither can your lights. So, can we use lighting to protect ourselves? Certainly. And, here is where motion sensors can lend yet another helping hand. Outdoor lights that are on from dusk to dawn are ignored by your neighbors. They simply pull down the curtains to keep intrusive lighting out. Because of this, you’re basically preventing your neighbors from seeing any activity taking place outside your home. On the other hand, if you had motion sensors installed, and your light suddently turned on at 2 o’clock in the morning, anyone in the area who was awake would have the ability to notice this. This would have the effect of sending a shock through a would intruders system. They’d have no way of knowing who had just noticed their arrival. They’d have to assume, that their presence had been (or would soon be) detected. As such, if lighting is to be used as a security measure, motion sensor controlled lighting would be the most effective means to employ it.

So, there you have it. A number of ways to save money on your utility bills. A number of ways to reduce electric consumption (and associated green house gas emissions). A number of ways to preserve the night sky and night time environment. Wouldn’t it be nice if other forms of pollution were as easy to address as light pollution? Wouldn’t it be nice if addressing other problems actually were so cost effective? Many, unfortunately are not. Addressing wasteful outdoor lighting is pretty painless, pretty inexpensive, and actually pays for itself in reduced electric bills in a fairly short time.

The search for the perfect lighting for your home can be very difficult, how does one know which company will best suit them? When looking for the ideal lighting, one must take many things into consideration. These things include; design, finish, color, size, amount of light needed and price, of course. However there is one other important factor that should be considered when choosing lighting and that is the environmental impact, positive or negative, that your lighting can have the environment. Poor lighting, is not only bad for your eyes… it is bad for our environment.

First of all, both lighting fixtures and light bulbs can be either energy efficient or energy inefficient, it is important to know which category the lighting of your home falls in. This is because one will waste a great deal of energy and money, by choosing lighting that is not energy efficient. Thus, it is wise to be guaranteed energy efficient appliances, in order make sure that your lighting choice is your best choice.

Also, with regard to outdoor lighting, energy efficient and environmentally friendly lighting choices are particularly important. This is because when you light outside your home, your lighting choice is no longer only affecting you and the individuals living in your home. By choosing the wrong kind of outdoor lighting, one can become the least favored person of the neighborhood. Thus, when picking the lighting around your home, you must pick lighting that is ‘neighbor friendly’. In order to ensure that you are only lighting your areas, and to guarantee that no light is shining uninvited into the homes of your neighbors.

In addition, when choosing outdoor lighting one should choose lighting that is night sky friendly. This means that your lighting will not shine aimlessly into the night sky. One may wonder why this is important, without realizing that light which shines aimlessly into the night sky is known as light pollution. Light pollution causes the night sky to look very hazy, an effect which is known as sky glow. Light pollution, makes viewing the stars impossible and it clouds the sky in an unpleasant fog.

When taking all of these factors into consideration, it is important to choose a company that will provide you with all these benefits while remaining an appropriate financial option… this is why you should choose Starry Night Lights! Starry Night Lights is able to provide environmentally night sky friendly lighting, guaranteed to be energy efficient. In addition, color, design and finishing options are plentiful, allowing one to be guaranteed environmental benefits without having to compromise on specific tastes and desires. Allow Starry Night Lights to serve you, after all you’ll be in ‘good hands’ guaranteed!

I recently read a “do it yourself” landscape lighting article. It listed all kinds of things that homeowners could do to light up their yards at night. My first thought was, “OMG. You guys are providing some amazingly outdated and wasteful ideas here”. One piece of advice… often seen on any landscape lighting website mentions “pointing outdoor lights up at the foliage” or “placing lights in trees”. Can you say “energy waste” or, how about “light pollution“? Haven’t these guys heard of global warming…. climate change… etc? We simply cannot continue with business as usual, and we can’t have supposed “thought leaders” continuing the myth that this kind of behavior is somehow OK. Get a clue. It is NOT OK to point lights up into trees and the night sky. It is NOT OK to light ones backyard like a federal penitentiary… however “tasteful” you may think it looks. I understand the desire to spruce up the exterior of ones home, but doing so in a way that degrades the environment is simply not acceptable. Because of all this tired old information on landscape lighting ideas, I’ve decided to put down a few of my own.

First up… and most importantly… Do Not Put Your Landscape Lights On Timers Or Photo Cells. This will only ensure that your lights are on way to much. Photo cells by their very nature will guarantee that your landscape lights are on about 12 hours per day. This is crazy… and incredibly wasteful. If you’ve installed landscape lighting so that you can make use of your backyard after dark… then just use a simple light switch and turn the lights on when you’re planning to go out side. This way, you will actually see the fruits of your labor. You’ll be able to entertain in a comfortable, attractive environment, and you’ll only be consuming energy while you’re actually outside enjoying the area. Think about this. For all the snide comments that Hummers get for their poor fuel efficiency, they’re at least turned off when they’re not in use. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an SUV owner leave their vehicles running all day/night long. I can think of a number of neighbors who leave their out door lights on all night long… and even all day long in some cases. Use your outdoor and landscape lighting only when necessary.

Secondly, light only the areas that you’ll actually be using. Light your patio. Light your deck. Light your walkways. Wonderful. This will enable you to enjoy these areas and to move about safely after dark. Please, please, please don’t light your entire yard. Don’t up-light your trees. I know you have trees. Your neighbors know you have trees. There is no good reason on Earth to shine lights on them. People can see them perfectly well by day… and have absolutely no need or desire to see them after dark. Checkout the accompanying image (provided by www.TheLightingPolice.com). Here’s what happens when you put your landscape lights on timers. You simply forget about them. You may enjoy them the few times you’re actually outside at night, but… you forget about them. This guy has a number of trees uplit by flood lights. There was over 3′ of snow in his yard when this picture was taken. His landscape lights were buried deep under the snow, but… because his landscape designer thoughtfully put the entire system on a timer, they’re on from 5pm until 5am 365 days a year… even when the lights are buried under 3 feet of snow. Can you say “wasteful”? How about “global warmer”? If you want landscape lighting so that you can enjoy your yard after dark… make sure that you’re actually outside to enjoy them. If you’re not… then the lights should not be on. Period.

Thirdly, don’t light any areas that don’t need to be lit. This sounds simple enough, but you’d be amazed at how often people shine their landscape lights in places they don’t belong. Don’t light up your entire yard. Especially don’t light up your neighbor’s yard. I can assure you… they don’t want your lights shining into their windows or into their yard. Don’t light up the night sky. Don’t light up any area that you won’t be sitting in our walking through. See, I told you it was pretty simple. Look around your neighborhood after dark and I’m sure that you’ll see a number of homes that really missed this one.

Lighting consumes over 1/4 of all the electricity produced in the US. Outdoor lighting is a very sizable portion of this. In a time of increasing energy costs and concerns over global warming, lighting everything up from dusk to dawn is simply not an acceptable option. Perhaps it was ok at some time in the past (this is debatable), but that time is certainly long gone. Anyway, as you can see… much of what passes for landscape lighting has been overdone or simply done wrong. With just a little thought and consideration, however, you can have the best of both worlds. A beautiful and functional night time backyard AND an responsible energy use scenario. Checkout our Outdoor Lighting Guidelines for more information on the topic.

Every year millions of birds die from collisions with man-made structures, such as artificial lighting structures and communication related buildings. Not much has been done to curb this negative effect of urbanization, however recently some steps have been made to improve the decline of bird populations, who suffer most from these problems. A US Federal Court has issued a ruling pushing the Federal Communications Commission to create safeguards to protect the millions of birds killed each year by colliding into radio, cellular, telephone and similar communication towers. It was decided that those who seek to build such towers must comply with federal laws like the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

This has greatly excited individuals of the American Bird Conservancy, who are pleased that the FCC will have to consult wildlife experts before permitting decisions are made. The hope is that this will save the lives of many birds each year, exciting both wildlife specialist and bird watchers.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has estimated that between 5 to 50 million birds are killed each year, this is especially severe for birds that migrate and are more likely to come into contact with these buildings. The FCC has been rebuked by the US Fish and Wildlife Service for refusing to consult them, when constructing such structures. Though at this point, such structures will be regulated to fulfill the appropriate wildlife standards.

Birds also frequently suffer from bright artificial lights, which can daze them and cause them collide into buildings. Bright lights can temporarily blind birds, and they can cause them far more severe consequences as a result of the temporary blindness, which can lead to death. According to FLAP (Fatal Light Awareness Program), “Birds migrating at night are strongly attracted to sources of artificial light, particularly during periods of inclement weather. Approaching the lights of tall buildings or other brightly lit structures, they become vulnerable to collisions with the structures themselves. If collision is avoided, birds are still at risk of death or injury. Once inside a beam of light, birds are reluctant to fly out of the lighted area into the dark, and often continue to flap around in the beam of light until they drop to the ground with exhaustion.” Thus, outdoor lighting which faces downward instead of up aimlessly into the sky, is the best choice when lighting outdoor areas, in order to protect birds. Therefore Starry Night Lights encourages you to pick safe wildlife friendly lighting when you light your outdoor areas.

A by-product of improper exterior lighting is light pollution, and it’s a growing problem. However, with the flick of a switch this problem can be corrected.

Light pollution is any light that is shining into the night sky or into your neighbor’s window. It’s misdirected and misused exterior lighting. It creates that “sky glow” effect of an orange 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.

As far as the exterior of your house is concerned, you 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 many options that you can do to help:

By installing quality dark sky friendly exterior lights that shine down and not out or up is a great start. Adding motion sensors to 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 eliminate the ones that are not absolutely necessary.

The obvious problems of glare and light trespass as well the fact that excessive exterior lighting requires a lot of energy are reasons why we should worry about light pollution. 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 we know it can be harmful to humans, as well. Let us also not forget about the fact that the majority of Americans can never enjoy the beauty of night sky.

Give your home a ‘face-lift’ change your lights! There are so many styles and forms of lighting today that finding the exact lighting that you want is easy. Find your indoor and outdoor lighting at Starry Night Lights, the night sky friendly lighting specialists.

Wall Scones:

Serve as an excellent way to draw attention to a wall or highlite an area. All wall scones sold by Starry Night Lights shine light downwards or on the area which needs to be lit and not into neighbors homes. They come in various styles such as; copper, aluminum, brass, ceramic and stainless steel and also in many different finishes.

Outdoor Wall Lanterns:

Lanterns are an interesting outdoor form of lighting which are both appealing and functional. All the outdoor wall lanterns which can be found at Starry Night Lights are night sky friendly and can be easily placed at the most desirous location. Starry Night Lights lanterns come in many different shapes, sizes and patterns.

Pendant Lighting:

Pendant lights are great! They are a lot of fun, they come in many interesting forms with many interesting colors. They also really bring a presence to a room and area.

Landscape Lighting:

All forms of landscape lighting which can be found at Starry Night Lights are both neighbor and night friendly. They are designed to be both attractive and durable. Landscape Lighting is an excellent way to light your walkway, or specific areas of your yard. This way you may light the areas you seek to have lit, and not over due the amount of lighting you need.

Architectural Lighting:

What’s great about architectural lighting is that not only is it an excellent source of outdoor lighting, but it also allows people to move around safely and securely without worry. Architectural lighting serves as a wonderful to get a good amount of light, while also respecting neighbors and the environment.

These lights and many other great and fun types of lights can be found at Starry Night Lights. And all the lights that can be found at Starry Night Lights are guaranteed to be both neighbor and night friendly!

It is spring and time to start planning your outdoor landscaping projects. We at Starry Night Lights can help. The addition of landscape lighting often completes your landscaping and provides illumination for spending relaxing evenings outdoors. Outdoor lights will accentuate the beauty of your yard’s landscapes and can even be neighbor friendly.

It is important to consider a number of factors when lighting your exterior landscape. After all, your garden, lawn, driveway, walkway and other exterior elements are very much an extension of your home, and they should be properly lit in order to show the home in the best possible light. It is also important that your exterior lighting plan include both practical factors and aesthetic considerations.

To begin, only areas in your garden that needs to be showcased should be lit. It would be a waste of precious energy if your entire garden is always light and bright. Lighting the entire yard might even detract from the desirable focal points.

People’s attention should be on the view and not on the lights. Lighting however, may comprise an important part of your yard’s landscape if they complement the design. Thus, finding the right color, brightness and type of light for your landscape is necessary. Otherwise, landscape lighting may not be a true benefit.

Brighter is not better. Less can be more when it comes to lighting the landscape; it is important to use subtle lighting and avoid over-lighting. The brightness of landscape lights should just be enough to make the view of your property relaxing. They should be soothing to the eyes yet sufficient so as to highlight the appropriate areas.

Be sure to discuss with your landscape architect or electrician the pros and cons of 12v landscape lights versus 120v landscape lights. Each has its place though low voltage landscape lighting seems to be more common. There are also many more low voltage landscape lights to choose from, so you may have an easier time finding the right fixture.

Finally, investing a bit more on efficient landscape lights will ultimately be more rewarding for both you and your neighbors.

Starry Night Lights works hard to ensure that one can choose, both interesting and economically friendly lighting. It is our hope that individuals will consider the negative consequences that certain lighting options have on the environment and will instead pick responsible options when lighting their homes. In order to give our customers as many options as possible, we offer many forms of lighting from many different brands. These brands include: GlareBuster, Justice Design, LSI Lighting Solutions, Sea Gull Lighting, as well as: 

AmeriTec Lighting

Besa Lighting

Hadco

KichlerLighting

Minka Group                    

 SPJ Lighting

Ultra Lights

For all the brands sold by Starry Night Lights please go to the ‘lighting by brand’ section on our webpage.

New and modern forms of lighting are one of the greatest and cheapest ways to give your home a ‘face-lift’. Interesting lighting serves as an excellent way to draw attention to your home, porch and garden. Also, with products purchased from Starry Night Lights, you are receiving efficient and sky friendly lighting. As a result, feel free to ‘lighten-up’ your home with Starry Night Lights forms of lighting and be guaranteed both cool and environmentally safe lighting.            

                                                                                                           .

As the years go by, the sky becomes brighter and brighter and it now gives off a glow which makes it almost impossible to see the stars, planets and other treasure of the night. This is the effect of light pollution, which is now considered to be as dangerous as the many other forms of pollution. Light pollution keeps expanding as cities grow and urbanization increases, it has become difficult even in rural areas to see the stars because of the growing effect of light pollution.

The International Dark-Sky Association has made it its mission to reduce light pollution around the world. Such cities as Quebec in Canada have made efforts to reduce the amount of aimless light that shines up into the sky. Thus they have been highly commended by the International Dark-Sky Association. The International Dark-Sky Association measures the amount of light pollution emitted by cities all over the world. Quebec is at a level 3 (relatively low), while the city of New York is ranked at a 9 (relatively high).

The International Dark-Sky Association has pushed for legislation which would regulate the amount of light pollution and wasted energy, in order to conserve energy and stop aimless and wasteful light, shining into the night sky. Such places as parking lots, malls and even homes, have lights shining directly up into the sky, even though no one is benefiting from the light. Thus, the International Dark-Sky Association and Starry Night Lights seek to reduce the amount of light pollution being emitted into the sky and hope to stop useless light shining into the night sky. Starry Night Lights offers individuals energy efficient and night friendly lighting. Starry Night Lights lights are designed not to shine up into the sky (ex. wall scones), and light only the areas that need to be lit (ex. area lighting). This way one can enjoy the night and keep their light from aimlessly shining into neighbors homes and into the dark night.