Good Neighbor
Outdoor Lighting

A GUIDE TO SELECTING AND INSTALLING EFFICIENT, COST-EFFECTIVE,
AND UNOBTRUSIVE OUTDOOR LIGHTING FIXTURES

Compiled by the
New England Light Pollution Advisory Group (NELPAG)
and the International Dark-Sky Association

May 1995

Why is there outdoor lighting?

• When well-designed and properly installed, outdoor lighting can be and is very useful in improving visibility and safety and a sense of security, while at the same time minimizing energy use and operating costs.

• Glare: Poorly-designed or poorly installed lighting can cause a great deal of glare that can severely hamper the vision of pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers, creating a hazard rather than increasing safety. Glare occurs when you can see light directly from the fixture (or bulb).

• Light Trespass: Poor outdoor lighting shines onto neighborhood properties and into bedroom windows, reducing privacy, hindering sleep, and creating an unattractive look to the area.

• Energy Waste: Much of our outdoor lighting wastes energy because it is not well-designed. This waste results in high operating costs and increased environmental pollution from the extra power generation needs. We waste over a billion dollars a year in the United States alone lighting up the sky at night.

• Sky Glow: A large fraction of poor lighting shines directly upwards, creating the adverse sky glow above our cities that washes our view of the dark night sky, taking away an important natural resource. In addition to the cost savings, less sky glow will allow future generations to enjoy the beauty of the stars, and children will be inspired to learn and perhaps to enter fields of science.

1. It provides adequate light for the intended task, but never over-lights.

   Specifying sufficient light for a job is sometimes hard to do on paper. Remember that a full moon can make an area seem quite bright. Some modern lighting systems illuminate areas to a level 100 times as bright as does the full moon! Brighter is not always better, so try to choose lights that will meet your needs without illuminating the neighborhood. If you can't decide what to do, consulting a good lighting designer is usually your best bet.

2. It uses "fully-shielded" lighting fixtures, fixtures that control the light output in order to keep the light in the intended area.

   Such fixtures have minimum glare from the light-producing source. "Fully-shielded" means that no light is emitted above the horizontal. (High-angle light output from ill-designed fixtures is mostly wasted, doing no good in lighting the ground, but still capable of causing a great deal of glare. Of course, all the light going directly up is totally wasted.)

   Fully-shielded light fixtures are more effective and actually increase safety, since they have very little glare. Glare can dazzle and considerably reduce the effectiveness of the emitted light.

3. It has the lighting fixtures carefully installed to maximize their effectiveness on the targeted property and minimize their adverse impact beyond the property borders.

   Positioning of fixtures is very important. Even well-shielded fixtures placed on tall poles at a property boundary can cast a lot of light onto neighboring properties. This "light trespass" greatly reduces and invades privacy, and is difficulty to resolve after the installation is complete.

   Fixtures should be positioned to give adequate uniformity of the illuminated area. A few bright fixtures (or ones that are too low to the ground) can often create bright "hot spots" that make the less-lit areas in-between seem dark. This can create a safety problem. When lighting signs, position the lights above and in front of the sign, and keep the light restricted to the sign area; overlit signs are actually harder to read. Buildings ought to be similarly lit in a way to offer an attractive, safe environment without overkill.

4. It uses fixtures with high-efficiency lamps, while still considering the color and quality as essential design criteria.

   High-efficiency lamps used for lighting not only save energy - which is good for a cleaner environment - but reduce operating costs. Most high-efficiency lamps last a long time, reducing costly maintenance. Highly-efficient fixtures usually cost more initially, but the payback time is very short, and such fixtures will save you lots of money in a short time.

   Balancing against high-efficiency, though, is the quality of the light emitted. In some applications, the yellow light cast by low-pressure (LPS) or high-pressure (HPS) sodium lamps may not be as desirable as a less-efficient, but much whiter, compact-fluorescent, metal-halide, or even incandescent light source. In other applications, color is not of importance, and LPS or HPS lamps do a very good job at very low cost. Well-designed shielded lights can usually be lower in wattage, saving even more energy and money. They will actually light an area better than unshielded lights of higher output, because they make use of all the light rather than wasting some (or much) of it.

Always remember that lighting should benefit people. Controlled, effective, efficient lighting at a home or business will enhance the beauty, while providing visibility, safety, and security. Poorly-installed, bright lighting is offensive and gives a very poor image.

• Most cheap fixtures have poor control of the light output, and they produce a lot of glare. It usually takes better and more-costly internal reflectors to get light out without glare and to give better light distribution. Modifying installed fixtures to reduce glare, or installing more fixtures to better coverage can be expensive.

• Cheap fixtures often have inefficient lamps and short lamp life, so they use far more energy than needed. Paying for more electricity than needed is expensive, as is the higher maintenance costs of these so-called "cheap" fixtures.

• Always remember that lighting should benefit people. Controlled, effective, efficient lighting at your home or business will enhance the surroundings and give a sense of safety and security. People don't appreciate poorly-installed, overly-bright lighting.

• Check your site at night before installing lighting and note the existing light levels. If the area has low levels of lighting, then modest levels of light will work well for you and will fit more hospitably in the neighborhood.

• Try to keep the lighting uniform and reduce glare as much as possible. Lights that make bright "hot spots" and ones that have glare make it hard to see well - especially for older people.

• Be aware that light fixtures can have different lighting patterns. (Some patterns are long and narrow light cones, while others are more symmetrical.) Some fixtures have internal adjustments that can change the lighting pattern to a modest extent. Pick the right pattern for your job.

• Consider using lights that turn on by motion detection. Not only will you reap big savings in operating costs, but you will have a far more effective security light due to its "instant-on" characteristics. Note that these lights can also be turned on manually. These light fixtures are not expensive, and they use very little energy. Higher-priced motion-detection units will prove more reliable.

• Any lamp - no matter how faint - can be annoying in certain circumstances, so it is encouraged that all outdoor lights be fully shielded. However, with fixtures that use dazzling lamps (typically all HPS, mercury vapor, and metal-halide lamps, and clear incandescent lamps of 150 watts or greater), the requirement for shielding is imperative. Here is a list of some good lighting fixtures, with manufacturers or suppliers names, product numbers, and addresses (with telephone numbers in parentheses).

  Please note that this is not a comprehensive list of all good lighting fixtures; these are a sample of those fixtures that have come to the attention of NELPAG as of the winter of 1995. As other quality fixtures are brought to our attention, they will be included in future updates. Please do give us your suggestions.

  ABOLITE: 10000 Alliance Road; Cincinnati, OH 45242 (513-793-8875)

  GENERAL ELECTRIC: Hendersonville, NC 28739 (800-626-2000)

  GUTH LIGHTING: 2615 Washington Blvd.; St. Louis, MO 63103 (314-533-3200)

  HADCO: P.O. Box 128; Littlestown, PA 17340 (717-359-7131)

  HUBBELL LIGHTING: 2000 Electric Way; Christiansburg, VA 24073 (703-382-6111)

  KIM LIGHTING: P.O. Box 1275; City of Industry, CA 91749 (818-968-5666)

  LUMINAIRE TECHNOLOGIES, INC.: 212 West Main St.; Gibsonville, NC 27249 (910-449-6310)

  THOMAS & BETTS LIGHTING DIV.: 1555 Lynnfield Rd.; Memphis, TN 38119 (901-682-7766)

  THOMAS OUTDOOR LIGHTING (formerly McPhilben Outdoor Lighting): 2661 Alvarado St.; San Leandro, CA

  PEMCO LIGHTING PRODUCTS: 150 Pemco Way; Wilmington, DE 19804 (302-892-9003)

  RUUD LIGHTING: 9201 Washington Ave.; Racine, WI 53406 (414-886-1900)

  SPERO LIGHTING: 1705 Noble Rd.; Cleveland, OH 44112 (216-851-3300)

  STONCO: P.O. Box 129; Union, NJ 07605 (908-964-7000)

  VOIGHT LIGHTING: 135 Fort Lee Rd.; Leonia, NJ 07605 (201-461-2493)

  WESTERFIELD: 770 Gateway Center Dr.; San Diego, CA 92102 (619-263-6672)

  In the diagrams, the following abbreviations are used: INC = incandescent; HPS = high-pressure sodium; CF = compact fluorescent; MH = metal-halide; MV = mercury vapor

  AREA LIGHTS - POLE or BUILDING MOUNTED
  THOMAS & BETTS American Electric Lighting Package "C" (Cutoff) (HPS, MV) Low Cost	KIM LIGHTING Series SAR (HPS, MH, MV) High Cost
  PEMCO Model 8908X-211-CO (HPS, MH, CF, INC) Medium Cost	RUDD LIGHTING PR Series (HPS, MH, CF, INC) Medium Cost
  STONCO Series RLM3000 & RMS3000 (HPS, MH) Medium Cost	HUBBELL LIGHTING Model NPU-BI NITE-TO-LITEtm (HPS, MV) Low Cost

  AREA LIGHTS - BUILDING MOUNTED ONLY
  GUTH LIGHTING SUNDOWNER Series B1870 (CF, HPS, MV) Medium Cost	KIM LIGHTING Series WD14D (HPS, MH) High Cost
  McPHILBEN OUTDOOR Series 101 & 102 (HPS, MH) High Cost	RUDD LIGHTING E8 Series (HPS, MH) Low Cost
  VOIGT LIGHTING PRAGMATIC Series 221 & 222 (HPS, MH, MV, CF, INC) Low to Medium Cost	COST: LOW COST: under $100 MEDIUM COST: $100 - $200 HIGH COST: over $200

  SIGN LIGHTS - FLOODLIGHTS
  ABOLITE Series RLM model DWB-1 (INC) Low Cost	HADCO Series HF4000 with MGS-3H shield (HPS, MV) Medium Cost
  HUBBELL LIGHTING Series 308 bullet with 309-S shield (INC) Low Cost	SPERO LIGHTING Model 705 reflector1 (INC) Low Cost
  STONCO Series 940 with 9455E shield (INC) Low Cost	WESTERFIELD Series 500 with Glare shield (CF) Low Cost

  ROADWAY LIGHTING
  CROUSE HINDS Model RAL Series (HPS, MV) Medium Cost	GENERAL ELECTRIC Model M-250R2 with CUTOFF OPTICS (HPS, MV) Medium Cost
  HUBBELL LIGHTING Model RMC series (HPS, MH) Medium Cost	PEMCO LIGHTING Model Admiral Hat (HPS, MH, CF, INC) Medium Cost
  THOMAS & BETTS American Electric Lighting Roadway Cutoff Series 113 & 125 (HPS, MH, MV) Medium Cost

  RETROFIT SHIELDS FOR "DUSK TO DAWN" SECURITY LIGHT
  LUMINAIRE TECHNOLOGIES Lite-Blockertm Fits on all NEMA Head Luminaires Low Cost	HUBBELL LIGHTING Model NPU-BI NITE-TO-LITEtm SKYCAP Cutoff Optics Fits on all NEMA Head Luminaires

  * * *

  This pamphlet was produced by the New England Light Pollution Advisory Group (NELPAG), a volunteer organization established in 1993 to address outdoor-lighting issues locally in the northeastern United States. The chief architect of this pamphlet is Peter Talmage, an engineer residing in Kennebunkport, Maine. Numerous revisions have occurred in the past year, with the main editing by Talmage, Daniel Green, David Crawford, Steve O'Meara, and Joy Hoskins.

  The NELPAG produces a Circular at irregular intervals, available either via postal mail - by sending self-addressed, stamped envelopes to Daniel Green (M.S. 18, Smithsonian Observatory, 60 Garden St. Cambridge, MA 02138) - or via computer e-mail (send your full name, postal address, and e-mail address to : NELPAG-REQUEST@harvee.billerica.ma.us via Internet). The NELPAG also meets occasionally in various locations in New England to discuss local lighting issues.

  The NELPAG (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/nelpag.html) supports the International Dark-Sky Association (http://www.darksky.org) and recommends that all individuals/groups who are interested in the problems of light pollution and obtrusive lighting should subscribe to the IDA Newsletter (IDA membership costs $30.00 per year; send check to International Dark-Sky Association, 3545 N. Stewart, Tucson, AZ 85716). IDA also issues useful "Information Sheets" and slide sets for use in educational presentations.