Lighting Design

Energy-efficient outdoor lighting design focuses on ways to improve both the quality and efficiency of lighting. If you’re constructing a new house, consider lighting as part of your whole-house design — an approach for building an energy-efficient home.

Outdoor Lighting Design

When designing outdoor lighting, consider the purpose of the lighting along with basic methods for achieving energy efficiency.

Outdoor lighting for homes generally serves one or more of three purposes:

• Aesthetics: Illuminate the exterior of the house and landscape
• Security: Illuminate the grounds near the house or driveway
• Utility: Illuminate the porch and driveway to help people navigate safely to and from the house.

Here are some basic methods for achieving energy-efficient outdoor lighting:

• Security and utility lighting does not need to be bright to be effective.
• Use LED or fluorescent lights unless incandescent lights are automatically controlled to be on for just a few minutes each day.
• Consider flood lights with combined photosensors and motion sensors in the place of other security lighting options.
• Make sure outdoor light fixtures have reflectors, deflectors, or covers to make more efficient use of the light source and help reduce light pollution.
• Use timers and other controls to turn decorative lighting on and off.

Parts of this article originally appeared on energy.gov.  To see see the post in its’ entirety please click here.