The True Cost of Outdoor Lighting

Anybody who's ever received an electric bill knows that lighting your home or business can be fairly expensive. Well, the bill you get from your power company is only a small portion of the total cost. True, you are the one who pays the utility company. But, society foots a substantial bill for other "hidden" costs.

For example: to power five 100-watt light bulbs from dusk to dawn for one year costs about $150. Yup... $150 to light up the neighborhood every night for a year.
Now, let's look at the "hidden" costs

To produce the electricity to run those five lights from dusk to dawn the utility company must burn about one ton of coal. Hmmm.. You may already see where this is going.

Burning one ton of coal releases the following toxins into the environment:

• 6600 lbs of Carbon Dioxide - a greenhouse gas

• 50 lbs of sulfur dioxide - a prime ingredient in acid rain

• 30 lbs of nitrogen oxide - a ground level ozone

• trace amounts of Mercury, Arsenic and other heavy metals - even the tiniest amounts are harmful to ones long term health and has also been linked to birth defects.

Many respiratory problems are caused by or intensified by these airborne toxins. How many of you suffer from, or know somebody who suffers from asthma? According to The Mayo Clinic, there are a number of factors which may increase the chances of developing asthma. High on their list was exposure to environmental pollutants. As if this wasn't bad enough, researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that death rates rose with increasing levels of particulate matter. This is probably not a surprise to anyone, but... to hear this from some of the world's premier medical researchers just drives the point home.

So. How are you feeling about your exterior lights now? 
We're using the same tired, old solutions to solve our problems. 
We have got to use our heads. 
We need to devise some new solutions. 

Lest you think we're only raising an issue and walking away...Let us throw out a few suggestions:

• Examine your goals. Not every situation requires lighting. Once you have determined a need for lights,
• Install full cut-off lights. These fixtures restrict light to the target area, making the most effective use of your lighting energy, enabling you to:
• Use lower wattage bulbs and still get the same "on the ground" illumination
• Install motion detectors. This will allow you to have an increased sense of security while at the same time consuming substantially less energy

Checkout the Light Pollution Section of the Utah Skies website at www.UtahSkies.org for more information on the harmful effects of improper lighting or for ideas on how to improve your lighting. Please contact us with any questions you may have.