That glow makes it hard to see the stars. Light pollution is the result of thousands of lights in a populated area that combine to form a glow over the city. But if you live in a city, or even a dense suburb, chances are you see very few stars. How To Avoid Light Pollution?Įveryone loves a star-filled night sky. Color temperature is measured in degrees Kelvin (K) and typically ranges from 3000K (very warm/yellow) to 6000K (cool/daylight). With LED, the color temperature, a measure of how warm/yellow or cool/blue your light is, has become very precise. You could choose from soft white, cool white, and, more recently, daylight. When incandescent lights were the primary source of lighting, we had just a few options. In modern LED outdoor lighting design you will see designers refer to lumens, not wattage.Īnother factor that has become much more pronounced with LED technology is light temperature. Lumens is a measure of the actual light that comes from a bulb, regardless of the wattage used to produce it. So how do you measure brightness independent of wattage? The answer is lumens. Wattage was no longer a reliable measure of brightness. LEDs could create the same amount of light as a 100-watt incandescent bulb with just 23 watts. With the arrival of LEDs, all that changed. For outdoor lighting, designers specified the necessary wattage for each light fixture. They were most common in work areas like a kitchen or garage workbench. 100-watt bulbs were extra bright for places where you need to be able to see really well. They provided a useful amount of light for most purposes. 60-watt bulbs were common throughout the house. A 45-watt bulb was subtle and typically used for decorative purposes. You could tell how bright a light was by how many watts it used. In the old days, it was all about wattage. But how do you measure how bright a light is? That’s important to know when planning your outdoor lighting design. It may make intuitive sense that your lighting should be varied depending on its function and location. More subdued and even lighting is the best way to avoid a light bomb, and should be one of the top concerns in your design. This prevents the eyes from adjusting and just means that you are blinded both by the light and the dark. If your home is unevenly lit, you may step in and out of dark and bright light several times just walking around the property. It may take several uncomfortable minutes for your eyes to adjust fully. Your eyes go into an involuntary squint as they try to adjust. A light bomb is the effect you get when you step from a darkened room into a brightly lit space. One issue to avoid in your outdoor lighting design is the dreaded light bomb. Other lights, like step lights, may be just bright enough to see. Some lights, like motion-sensing security lights, could be pretty bright. Modern lighting design usually combined lights of different brightnesses. Designs have become much more subtle, using a variety of lights and brightnesses for an overall effect. As technology has developed, lighting designers have a lot more options. Needless to say, times have changed and so have styles. Huge, bright lights can be seen from miles away, glaring out of the treetops and behind buildings. You may see some classic buildings that are still lit this way. There was a time when outdoor lighting design was little more than shining some floodlights on a property and lighting up the night. Just how bright should outdoor lighting be? Our Night Vision Outdoor Lighting experts are here to give you the low-down on why and how you should light your home. We’re happy to tell you that modern lighting design offers improved curb appeal while avoiding the pitfalls of excessive light pollution. Perhaps they have seen a house with old-fashioned flood lighting that sticks out like a sore thumb. They imagine a house lit up light a hotel on the Vegas strip. More often than not, they have seen other homes with great outdoor lighting and appreciate the added curb appeal of those homes. They imagine a beautiful home with resort-style lighting. But we often run across homeowners who are split on the decision to install outdoor lighting. Outdoor and landscape lighting is a great way to accent your home.
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