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Green Design Outdoor Lighting Levels Article
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19 Exterior Lighting Fixtures
from:When you have a nice yard – either back or front, or maybe both – some nice lighting can help you to highlight the area, and allow you to use it at night. These days, with people concerned about the environment and even disease, you can get lights that will address both issues.
Standard Lights
Typically, exterior lights are the large waterproof variety – after all, the weather can be an issue – so you don’t want the fixtures to short out in the case of rain. There are canister types of fixtures and even ones that look like old fashion lanterns. Very often, you’ll want the lights wired together to make turning them on and off easy, and with the switch near the front of back door of your house. As the wiring will have to run under your lawn, be sure to call the local utility companies – all of them – and find out if you have any buried lines in your yard. You need to know not just about electrical lines, but also water, sewer, cable TV, internet, and so on! These days, there are a lot of lines that can be just under the surface. Also, if you have a sprinkler system for your lawn, there’ll be irrigation pipes as well. Yet another item to watch out for as you start to dig.
LED
One excellent way to provide some much-needed light to a yard, yet not do a lot of work, is by using LED fixtures. In general, these fixtures can be flexible plastic – often like a garden hose – and the wiring is encased within it. So, not only are the fixtures completely waterproof, but installing them is as easy as laying them out across the lawn, and then plug them in – usually to an outside outlet. Also, as an LED gives off a small amount of light, this type of fixture is ideal for an apartment or condo – if you have neighbours who complain about lights shining in their windows.
Solar Power
Lots of people are worried about the environment today, and with power use contributing to Global Warming. When it comes to outside lights, this means that you can make use of lighting fixtures that are solar powered. A small photoelectric cell on each fixture can charge a battery in it, and then the light comes on at night. Another feature to such fixtures is that they can have an automatic toggle switch so that they come on when it gets dark and go out when the sun comes up.
Insects
Of course, one aspect of being outside means dealing with insects. Depending on where you live, you may have mosquitoes in the summer or all manner of flying, crawling and biting bugs all year long. If you use standard white light bulbs, they tend to attract such critters – much like the old saying: moths to the flame. One way to lessen this problem is by using amber coloured bulbs – and various other colours – there are various bulbs specifically designed to not attract insects. If they don’t do the trick, you can also get a bug light – also known as a bug zapper – and they use a light to draw insects into an electrical grid that, well, zaps them.
No matter what types of lighting fixtures you use in your yard, there are plenty to choose from to create just the right lighting scheme.
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