Landscape Outdoor Lighting

The purchase costs of LED outdoor lights are definitely starting to drop quite fast now.

This is excellent news because they are also very energy efficient. In other words they throw out a lot of light for not much electricity in.

LED lights can be used for ambient lighting, floodlighting, walkways in fact for most applications.

Twilight lighting is both a descriptive term use with a certain style of landscape outdoor lights and it is also a brand name.

Generally they are either low voltage lights i.e. they use a step down transformer to derive a low voltage power feed from the mains that is then routed to the lights, or solar powered lights that don’t need a power connection. The light they throw out is generally soft and will not cause light pollution.

Usually, low voltage lighting is easy to install if the ground is soft so the wires can be routed easily. Of course, solar lights don’t need wiring which is a major benefit to offset their sometimes higher purchase cost.

For mains powered lights, you may find its best to mount the transformer indoors although they are weatherproof, because transformers installed outdoors tend to get weather-beaten and bug-infested over time. Also, by installing the transformer indoors, it is easier to reprogram.

Most people program the lights to come on at dusk and remain on for a few hours.  After they turn off, they will turn back on if the motion sensor detects movement.

The motion detector and the separate dawn-to-dusk sensor are connected by dedicated low-current connections and are typically placed as follows:

- motion detector on the front of the house so it senses when people enter the property

- light sensor on the side of the house to avoid headlights from automobiles traveling past your home.

Flagstaff is located in the dry West and it doesn’t have a lot of trees to block the street lights within the city and the air is fairly clean. This means that the distance that light pollution travels is astonishingly far. For example, from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon atr night, you can see the lights of Phoenix, as well as Las Vegas.

As a result, the city has strict lighting ordnances.

Health Impacts of Bright Night Lighting

Scientists are now just starting to understand the impact of nighttime lighting on animals and humans. Bright lights confuse animals and can alter everything. 

Examples: frogs’ mating activities are disturbed, communication among coyotes is afected, baby turtles get confused finding their way to the sea and nocturnally migrating birds become disoriented. 

The effects also extend to human health with new research suggesting that living in a neighborhood that’s too bright at night can interfere with the production of a tumor-suppressing hormone in women, raising the risk of breast cancer.

Bright Doesn’t Mean Safe

Contrary to what most people believe, the key to visibility isn’t intense light, but evenly spread light. Brighter isn’t safer and can even be more dangerous.

If a building has a typically blinding white, security lighting you can’t readily see someone in the shadows between lights. Your eyes can’t deal efectively with the contrast.

So stark white spotlights, or the dazzling white lights used at sportsfields that are visible for miles are not as effective as strategically placed, well-shielded fixtures that blanket the surrounds of a building in a mellow light.

Another example: At Flagstaff’s Thorpe Park shielded fixtures were installed last year and players can actually see the ball better without “light bombs” in their eyes.

This ”mellow lighting” can be provided by energy efficient and/or solar outdoor lights

So turn the brightness down to be safer, save yourself money and help the environment by using energy efficient lighting

Compact fluorescent lamps cut greenhouse gas emissions and running costs by up to 75% whilst producing as much light as traditional incandescent globes.

The most popular versions come as plug-in compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) that are a direct replacement for incandescent globes. Traditional CFLs deliver most of their light to the sides, so an effective reflector may be needed to direct the light.

Some points:

• Low voltage halogen lamps are not low energy lamps: each one generates a kilogram of greenhouse gas every 15 hours—about the same as an ordinary 60 watt globe, although it does produce a little more light. Halogens are not easily replaced by more efficient alternatives, so installing them locks you in to high lighting bills.
• Fit lower wattage globes (or compact fluorescent lamps) in bright lights, especially down lights and spot lights: save up to 75% of the electricity.
• Select light fittings with reflectors that direct light where you want it and do not absorb too much light—coloured glass can halve light output, creating a need for higher wattage lamps.

LED lamps (LED means light emitting diode)

These are beginning to appear for outdoor use and specialised applications like night-lights. These lamps are very long-lasting and efficient. We’ll see a lot more of them in coming years because they have better light output that CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps) at 100 lumens per watt, are 40 per cent brighter and have five times more life expectancy.

LEDs are the best bet for energy efficient garden and landscape lighting. An LED can go on for over 10 years without needing to be replaced.

You can reduce the money you spend on outdoor lighting with LEDs as they can be kept on for longer more economically, because of their low energy consumption.

LEDs are also ideal for spotlights, downlights and wall washers—where directional light is required from an extremely focused light source.

Most landscape lighting systems now use a lighting controller with a timer that shuts your garden lights off at night (to save power and avoid disturbing neighbors).

Some systems will also let you select an option to maintain your lights at a reduced power setting, so you have a soft glow rather than full illumination.

Many systems also include a motion sensor in the control system. When the motion sensor is activated, it fully illuminates the lights for a pre-selected amount of time.

This performs 2 functions:

1. It either advises you that there is someone on your property.  In this situation the motion sensor fully illuminates the lights to alert you when an intruder has entered your property, providing your home with all night security.
2. Or it turns on the lights to welcome you home and guide you safely to your door.

These lighting controllers are suitable to use with manor house landscape lighting systems.

A popular, traditional style of outdoor landscape light is the so-called “Manor House Light” and of course there is also a company with the Manor House brand name.

This style of landscape light is also offered by other manufacturers such as Hinkley Lighting.

An example of a manor house style, outdoor wall lantern is shown below.

My opinion is manor house lighting looks best mounted on walls framing entrance doors, or on poles framing a garden, or driveway entrance.

Used too much though it can look overdone.

This is a fascinating product for controlling large arays of LED lights. It may be beyond what’s needed for an average domestic landscape lighting application - unless you have a taste for clever technology or maybe a super-sized Christmas lighting installation.

The EZ-Color high brightness LED controllers pair with the “PSoC Express” software to deliver a design solution for applications that require precise light-blending, including architectural lighting and entertainment lighting.

The system overcomes the two biggest problems LED lighting engineers face today:

(a) having to account for differing High Brightness (HB) LED performance specifications and

(b) the LEDs’ performance variation over different temperatures.

With PSoC Express, designers simply select a color from a palette presented on-screen. Pre-loaded manufacturers’ LED specifications and temperature feedback algorithms are automatically applied to the selected design and programmed into the EZ-Color controller.

In other words its pretty much like using a run-of-the-mill Windows graphics of photo application, where the picture on the PC is translate dinto LED light display.  Awesome! 

This can save a designer / installer anywhere from weeks to months of design time for a complex design, or if you’re a home (not so) handy-person - years of wasted weekends!

The EZ-Color controllers can support up to 16 LED channels (more than you’ll ever need at home), compared to four or five channels for competitive devices. These additional channels can mean a savings of dozens or even hundreds of controllers in very large designs (which would definitely be beyond the scope of a domestic set up), saving on design complexity, power consumption and board space.

You can get more information on EZ-Color, education materials on HB LED color mixing, and a free download of PSoC Express 3.0 software are all available at www.cypress.com/EZ-Color.

So in summary a useful tool and/or a fanbtastic toy for controlling light installations. Imagine its your wife’s birthday and you program a message into your landscape lighting.

“Hi Darling happy birthday . . . PS what’s for dinner tonite?”

Or maybe you have an annoying neighbor you’d like to send a message to  . . . the possibilities are endless!

Stay tuned for the latest landscape lighting news.

The compact “mini fluoro” light globes are popular now as a replacement for traditional incandescent light globes because of their lower powr consumption.

LED lights are the next wave of energy efficient lights. Their power consumption is lower again than compact fluoros and the light they emit is in many ways preferable.

LEDs can produce an intense, penetrating white light if that’s what you need e.g. for spot lights or security lighting. For example, a 30W LED spotlight can produce 1500-1800 lumens which is a very efficient energy/light output ratio.

LEDs are also available in a variety of colors and packaging forms. Their small size makes it simple to produce landscape lights in innovative shapes and sizes.

Here is an example of a stanles steel LED landscape light.

 For landscape lighting tips keep an eye on http://landscapeoutdoorlighting.com/

The new Ohlone College campus in Newark CA is nearing completion with the campus is scheduled to open for classes in January 2008. 

The site will be the first “green” campus in the nation, designed to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) [Note 1] Gold or Platinum level certification when the building opens for classes in 2008.

The building has been built to the highest standards of environmental sustainability using best practices of energy conservation.  Interestingly, only around 50 buildings in the world have achieved Platinum certification todate.

We suggest that solar electricity is a sensible choice for outdor lighting and Ohlone has gone to town in asolar sense - they have installed 1585 Photovoltaic panels (PVP) on the building’s roof that will provide up to 50% of the building’s energy needs!

Not surprisingly, this is currently the largest installation of PVP panels in the Silicon Valley. 

Also of note, as part of the environmental design that qualifies for LEED recognition, the college is using an exterior lighting system with cutoff fixtures to maximize landscape lighting whilst eliminating light pollution in the neighborhood. 

Again, the issues of energy consumption and light pollution are imortant design factors in your landscape lighting system. Your objective should be to minimize both aspects.

Note 1: The LEED green building rating system is developed and administered by the U.S. Green Building Council and is designed to promote design and construction practices that increase profitability while reducing the negative environmental impacts of buildings and improving occupant health and well-being. 

The LEED rating system offers four certification levels for new construction — Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. 

Stay tuned for information on environmentally friendly outdoor lighting and solar lighting systems.

Here is another example of why you should consider energy efficient and environmentally friendly outdoor lighting, such as LED outdoor lights.

Bonita FL is considering a city ordinance to limit bright outdoor lighting in residential areas of Bonita Springs.

The limits would be in effect between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. During that time outdoor lights would need to be:

1. Directional so no light shines onto a neighbor’s property.
2. Limited in wattage i.e. brightness and power consumption.

The new regulations are meant to limit two things:

1. Light pollution — the kind that interferes with a clear view of the night sky.
2. The air pollution that comes from burning fuels to generate the electricity to power the lights.

There would be some exemptions to the new rules and some landscape lighting would still be allowed.

We suggest you take a look at LED outdoor lights because they are:

1. Energy efficient and so work well with solar power
2. Compact
3. Bright
4. Reliable/long lived

Here’s an example of a motion Sensing LED light with a 1W Luxeon® LED that includes a solar panel.

Its a great LED/solar based solution to environmentally friendly outdoor lighting.