Artipot - Free Ezine Articles
 
Home » Home and Family » Gardening » Landscaping

Energy Savings with Dark Sky Compliant Light Fixture for Your Home

By Cindy Sherman
Jun 29, 2009
Dark Sky Compliant light fixtures send light where it needs to be and minimize secondary illumination. As we've shown, choosing fixtures that work for you by saving electricity and reducing extraneous glare and light pollution will help you to decreased your energy bills, make are night skies a little darker, while protecting wildlife from unnecessary light clutter and pollution.

If you want to enjoy the benefits of Dark Sky lighting for your home you can retrofit the existing fixtures on your homes exterior and start to enjoy the money saving, eco friendly Dark Sky light fixtures. We would be happy to help and are available for any questions you many have.

The simplest way to get Dark Sky Compliant lighting is to look for the International Dark-Sky Association's (IDA) stamp of approval on products as you're perusing the selections available to you. Otherwise, there are several key features built into night-friendly fixtures you can look for. In a nutshell, you'll want to check for the following distinctive dark sky features:

1. Fixtures that are made with side and top covers that are solid and opaque. This feature insures that the light is not sent sideways or skyward.

2. Some of the authentic Dark Sky fixtures use a reflector to direct the light downward. The reflector in normally found in the inner top part of the casing.

3. Flat- rather than rounded-lenses at the fixture's base help to reduce glare and light spillage.

If you've already purchased outdoor lighting and don't relish the thought of replacing every fixture on your home's exterior, you may want to consider retrofitting with light shields. These cylindrical enclosures cover the top and sides of your fixture to cut up-lighting. They come in a variety of shapes and colors, and can usually be matched nicely to your existing fixtures to provide a seamless look to your home's exterior.

By installing Dark Sky fixtures you will be able to enjoy lower electric bill. Anytime you save energy you will lower your utility bills. It is estimated that $1.5 billion worth of light is wasted across the nation each year. This extreme waste is a result of the enormous amount of light that is directed upward. That is nothing but a waste.

The city of San Diego decided to do something about this waste of light. They hired a fir to retrofit the city's outdoor light fixtures to full cut-off lighting. While it did take them three years to make the money back on their investment, they are now saving more that $3 million dollars each year for the cost of energy.

Obviously the typical homeowner spends nowhere near what city governments spend on utility bills. Even though your bills are not in the millions, you can still save money. Remember, any time that you use less energy, you will spend less money. Using unnecessary light will slowly drain money from your wallet. By installing full cut-off, specifically-focused light fixtures you will need fewer lights, smaller bulbs and less money to pay your
About the Author
Please Rate:

Rating:

(Average: Not rated)
Views:43 
Print Article Email Article Reprint Article Comments (0)
More Articles from Landscaping
Top Articles in Landscaping