Electrical Industry Articles and Stories

Outdoor landscape lighting is not just about illuminating the exterior of homes and businesses; it's a burgeoning market with a glowing future.

As I pondered this topic, I was relaxing in our side yard, gazing at the garden in the dark. Well, not totally in the dark. The garden was delightfully illuminated by flickering tiki torch lamps … lit by LEDs, charged by the sun. Spotlights shone on my miniature windmill as it lazily spun in the evening breeze.

High-bay fixtures are among the unsung heroes of indoor illumination. Without them, sporting events, and big box stores would have a difficult time operating. and warehouse employees might need flashlights to navigate aisles.

Recently, my wife and I had the “pleasure” of visiting a relatively new hospital complex. For almost a year, I watched the 5-story edifice being built as I traveled up and down Highway 49 in Northwest Arkansas.

I’ll make no bones about it. LEDs are the light of my life. Okay, maybe that’s going just a bit far … but not much. If you want to find an incandescent or fluorescent lamp in my house, you’re going to have to look hard. I think I may have a few C7s left to replace. But only because they’re hard to get to.

Lighting the great outdoors requires a bit more thought now than it did a couple decades ago. The goal used to be simply packing as many lumens as possible into a landscape fixture. That was the entire point. Photocell sensors might have been used to ensure lights didn’t stay on during daylight hours, but keeping outdoor space fully illuminated – even when no humans were around – was seen as a key safety measure.