American Lighting Association offers quick tips
17 Jun, 2011 LDB SolutionsAdvice for landscapers who starting who want to begin offering landscape lighting.
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| Photo courtesy of Kichler Lighting. |
This summer many landscapers' customers may be spending more vacation time at home instead of traveling to a distant location. According to the American Lighting Association (ALA), with a few updates to their outside lighting, you landscapers can create a mini vacation at home for their clients.
"The best strategy is to clearly define your objectives," says Joe Rey-Barreau, education consultant for the ALA and an associate professor at the University of Kentucky's School of Interior Design. "It's not necessary to illuminate everything in your yard, so decide which areas are the highest priorities. It is generally better to begin closest to the house, since that is where most activities take place."
"Creating a beautiful landscape doesn't have to be expensive," says Rick Wiedemer of Hinkley Lighting. "A few well-placed, low-voltage path or accent lights can have a huge impact on a well-manicured landscape. Even modest homes or those with limited yards or gardens can benefit. Low-voltage landscape lighting is inexpensive, safe and relatively easy to install. A handy homeowner can put in a low-voltage lighting system over a weekend."
Lew Waltz of Philips Hadco agrees. "The best thing about using low-voltage lighting outdoors is you don't have to do everything at once," he explains. "I recommend purchasing a transformer that is larger than you immediately need. Let's say you want to illuminate the deck area and provide task lighting for cooking at the grill. After selecting the fixtures, you add up the wattage and figure it will use 200 watts of light. However, next year, you might like to add lighting to the patio, highlight some potted plants, and install a water feature in the backyard. Instead of purchasing a transformer that is just large enough for the deck, buy one that will operate two to three times that amount of wattage. You only pay for the energy consumed by the fixtures. In other words, a 600-watt transformer that only has 200 watts of fixtures on it, uses 200 watts of energy, not 600."
Selecting two or three items that are important to the client during the daylight hours, such as an ornamental tree, a water feature or a sculpture to illuminate is a good first step, according to Waltz. It can ease the client into landscape lighting, even if the budget is tight this year.
The association recommends buying the best quality and well-constructed fixtures your clients can afford. "They will last for decades," Waltz says. "There are a tremendous number of homeowners who purchase the least expensive fixtures they can find, only to discover that they need to replace them within a year or two. That actually ends up costing more over a 10-year period than if they had purchased better-quality products in the beginning."
One way to help clients save on electricity costs is to use a photocell, according to Rey-Barreau. "When it becomes dark or daylight, the photocell automatically turns the lights on and off." Photocells can be used either for complete outdoor lighting systems or for single fixtures, such as by the back door.
"Another common type of control is a timer that turns the lights on and off at specific times," Rey-Barreau says. "It's particularly useful to have both a photocell and a timer. With that combination, the timer is set to turn the lights on in the late afternoon, but the photocell will override the timer if there is enough daylight available."
Wiedemer suggests low-voltage halogen lighting as a less-expensive alternative to a typical incandescent line-voltage system. "Low-voltage halogen operates very efficiently, and the amount of light (lumen output per watt) is much greater than with incandescent bulb equivalents," he explains.
An even more efficient light source – and what Wiedemer refers to as "a true ‘green' solution" – is LED. This lighting technology provides equivalent light output to that of halogen or incandescent, but at considerable energy savings of up to 75% less. Wiedemer estimates the average lifespan of a well-made LED light source to exceed 40,000 hours or more than 12 years of average nightly use. If you install timers with the transformers to turn the system off during late night hours, you will not only cut down even further on energy costs, but will also increase the lifespan of the bulbs.
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