Lighting tips for businesses
Hire a professional lighting engineer
Many business lighting systems are obtrusive because they were done "off the cuff" or on the cheap. The business owner wants a little light and either installs the lights themselves or hires an electrician to quick put up the cheapest lights they can find. Floodlights, wallpacks, and other such glare bombs are the hallmark of such homebrewed installations.
Lighting properly is a science. It takes know-how to select the proper types of lights, choose the best locations, account for ambient lighting conditions, choose the appropriate lamp technology, select the correct control systems (timers, photocells, etc.), and other components of a commercial lighting system. Electricians know all about installing the equipment. But most know little to nothing about photometric plots, color rendition, uniformity ratios, small target visibility, and other factors that a lighting engineer might need to consider for your lighting system.
We strongly recommend that you hire a lighting engineer to design a proper lighting plan for your business. Avoid the quick fixes, like a single super-bright floodlight to illuminate your whole parking lot. Quick and dirty lighting is usually the most annoying to your neighbors and is likely to cost you more in the long run.
Avoid wallpack lights
 Wallpack lights are those glarey box-shaped lights you see on the side of most commercial buildings. They are so common that most people don't stop to think that wallpacks are actually pretty much inappropriate in every situations. Much (most?) of the light they produce goes out directly sideways and up into the sky. The light easily crosses property boundaries to annoy neighbors and interfere with the vision of passing motorists. The glare they produce as a result hinders visibility to folks both on and off your site.
 Instead of a wallpack, how about using a wallbox light instead? A fixture like the one shown to the left doesn't suffer from the many problems caused by a wallpack. Its light shines downward and gently sidewards. It doesn't produce glare and up-light. Depending on where your property lines are located, there's also a better chance that the light stays on your property rather than shining onto your neighbor's property.
Wallboxes placed strategically over doors or even under the eaves to provide vertical illumination ("wall washing") is a neighbor friendly way to provide safety lighting at your property.
Choose a shielded fixture
 Going hand in hand with the previous topic, make sure that all the outdoor lights you install are well shielded to prevent glare, obtrusive light, and up-light. Shielding is any opaque material that blocks the transmission of lights. Well-shielded lights prevent any light from being emitted above the horizontal plane. Additional shielding can be added to keep light from going where it's not needed or wanted.
The now-classic shoebox style light (shown on the top-right) is one example of a well-shielded light. In such a fixture, the bulb is tucked up within the opaque box-shaped fixture. Light is cast downward and gently sideways, however, the light cannot go directly sideways or up into the sky where it would be wasted or obtrusive.
Shielded lights are available for most applications, including lot lighting, walkway lighting, doorway/entrance illumination, loading dock lighting, and so forth. Various styles are available, as shown to the left and right here. In general, don't use any light in which you can see even a small portion of the bulb extending below the opaque housing of the fixture. And never choose clear or frosted fixtures that include little or no shielding.
Insist on downlighting on signs and wall-washes
 Check out the billboard image to the left, in particular, the glow that surrounds the light and extends up into the sky. This is the effect of the traditional upward lighting used with many signs. Upward lighting of signs (not just billboards) sends an enormous amount of light uselessly skyward.
Many business signs, especially those at ground level, are lit by bright spotlights aimed upward at a 45-degree angle. In many cases, these lights also shine past (or under or over) the sign into the eyes of passing motorists. This glare can be distracting. Worse, with older drivers or those with vision problems, the glare can prevent them from seeing or reading your sign.
If instead, you provide lighting from the top-down, any stray light hits the ground rather than shining into the sky. Even better, if you use fluorescent tubes across the top of your sign (of course, covered by an opaque shield that prevents sideways and upward light transmission), there's very little chance that the light will cause glare for passing motorists.
You get better sign visibility, reduced glare, and you prevent wasted upward light. In many cases you can use less light and save money—you don't have to install and pay for all that light that misses your sign and provides no benefit!
Internally-lit signs should have dark backgrounds
Internally-lit signs have their lights inside the translucent sign panels. Vision studies show that people, especially older folks, can read such signs more easily if they use light text and graphics on a dark background. Avoid the traditional black letters on white background.
Dim or shut of lot lighting after hours
Unless your business operates 24x7, you probably don't need your parking lot lighting on all night long. After business hours, no one should be in your lot to need those lights. Of course, you don't want your lot to be the party hangout for local teens. How about turning off every other light? Two out of every three lights? Some newer area lights even support dual output levels so that you can dim the lights rather than turning them off altogether.
Some communities require businesses to dim or shut off some or all of their lot lighting after hours. Even if your community doesn't require you to do so, you should consider the idea. You can save money because you're not paying to light an unused lot. You will also reduce waste—like the air pollution created by the generation of the electricity used to light your empty parking lot—and make your neighbors happy by shutting off your lot lights after hours.
Consider motion sensor-controlled lighting
Rather than dusk to dawn lighting over doors and in parking lots, consider using motion-controlled lighting. High pressure sodium and other "commercial" lamps can't be switched on and off in this way. But, if a light is going to be on for only a short time, you'll actually save money by switching to a less efficient technology, such as fluorescent or even incandescent.
Consider a light over your employee entrance. After hours, this door will usually not be used. Depending on your after-hours policies, maybe it should never be used. But, most building plans call for a dusk-to-dawn high pressure sodium light over the door.
Instead, install a compact fluorescent floodlight on a motion sensor. If that stray employee does stop by after hours, the light will come on as they near the door. A minute or two later (once they're inside), the light will switch off. Even though CFL bulbs are less efficient than HPS, you'll save money because the floodlight will rarely be on and then only for a few minutes. Additionally, your neighbors won't have to see your light on all night long when no one is around.
Aim spotlights properly
Many businesses use floodlights (aka spotlights) to provide light over a broad area. Check out these images:
 
In each photo, the inset shows how the floodlight is aimed: either outward at a 45-degree angle (which is typical) or straight down. The visibility is considerably better when the light is aimed straight down. Why is this so?
Your eyes adjust to the brightest object in your field of view. In the first photo, that object is the bulb, which is considerably brighter than everything else. The effect is to make the rest of the scene appear dark and shadowed. By hiding the bulb by tipping the floodlight downward, the man and his surroundings become the brightest objects—visibility is greatly enhanced.
Admittedly, these images show a residence with a small floodlight mounted over the door. The principle applies to lot lighting and other commerical lighting applications. Floodlights actually reduce visibility, particularly for the elderly and those with vision problems.
Floodlights are the expedient solution: they are a way to get a lot of light all over the place without having to install a real lighting system. They are the hallmark of an electrician or business owner designed lighting system. Such systems waste a lot of light, cause enormous glare and light trespass onto adjacent properties, and as the photos above show, actually reduce visibility.
We strongly suggest you hire a pro to design a system for your business that does not involve floodlighting. If you must use floods, aim your them as close to straight down as you can and still have them illuminate the target area. Make sure light doesn't shine into your patrons' eyes, onto adjecent roadways, or onto neighboring properties. Ask your installer to aim the lights at night, too, so that he or she can see accurately where the light is actually going and not just guessing based on the shape of the housing.
Photos by Martin Morgan-Taylor and Dr. Darren Baskill and the Campaign for Dark Skies.
Talk to your neighbors
If you've got bad lighting your neighbors might come knocking on your door to talk about it. How about this: before installing new lighting, talk to your neighbors about it. Explain your need for lighting, but be sensitive to their needs too. No one wants a security light shining through their bedroom window. No one wants to deal with the glare of a poorly executed sign light that shines into the eyes of passing motorists. Balance your needs with their needs and come up with a lighting plan that will make everyone happy (or at least not hate each other).
Of course, make sure you check out the restrictions your community might place on outdoor lighting and signage. You might need permits or approvals before installing new lighting. We bet that don't want to have to rip out your brand new lights because they don't meet local regulations!
Join SELENE or the IDA
SELENE membership is free and there are no membership requirements. Create a user account on our site here (link to do so in the left column) or join our mailing list and you're a member. Of course, we'll ask you to help out by writing letters or contacting your State representatives.
The premier light pollution awareness group is the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). The IDA boasts over 10,000 members from all corners of the world. The IDA's mission is to bring about lighting reform through education and alliances with industry. They ask $30/year to become a member. But your money goes to support a great cause. Please consider joining today!
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