Commercial Area Lighting Concepts

Lumen per watt efficiency has now become the number one consideration in the design and installation of an area lighting system. As energy costs continue to affect pricing across the board, new laws are now going into effect that will require a .05 watt per square foot maximum for outdoor area lights. This requires you, the contractor, to pay closer attention to area geometry. You now must carefully pinpoint optimal fixture placement locations, and you have to choose fixtures that will deliver more light with less consumption of electricity.

Regulations on glare and light pollution are also getting tougher. Commercial light fixtures made overseas are usually incapable of shielding the eyes from glare or preventing light spillage into surrounding homes and businesses. Only premium, commercial grade area lights that are manufactured here in the United States can give you the assurance of full compliance with dark sky laws and the warranted protection on equipment that guarantees minimized maintenance and replacement costs for your clients.

PARKING LOT LIGHTS
Parking lot lights and lighting poles are two of the most essential elements of area lighting. Commercial parking lot lighting is also heavily regulated in reference to foot candle levels and limitations on the amount of glare produced by the fixtures. High lighting poles tend to illuminate larger areas, helping keep the areaʼs overall lighting in compliance with foot candle requirements and energy efficiency codes. At the same time, you have to be careful not to use light poles that are too tall. Almost every city has dark sky laws that limit pole height to a maximum height. The key to balancing these apparently contradictory legal requirements is to use cut off luminaire designs with tempered glass lenses and reflectors formed from specular facets. These industrial lighting pole fixtures are intended to keep glare levels to a minimum and to disperse light over greater distances. They also keep power consumption at a minimum while simultaneously increasing the total square footage they illuminate.

ARCHITECTURAL BUILDING LIGHTING
When lighting buildings for your client, area lighting fixtures must accent the architecture without overwhelming it. Ideally, they should accentuate only the most important features of a building instead of the entire building itself. This will curb energy expenses and eliminate light pollution, and it will also create a secondary effect of keynoting what is truly important to a particular structure with a less is more approach to luminaire installation.

Installing light fixtures at the ideal angles of incidence will determine the overall effectiveness of building area lighting. You must hide the light source as much as possible to create a well-rounded aesthetic presentation of the building. A wide selection of choices in wattages, luminaire mounts, reflectors, and cut off designs are available to can be install practically any size or type of fixture in strategic locations so as to make them virtually invisible to the casual viewer.

LANDSCAPE AREA LIGHTING
Similar to building lighting, commercial landscape area lighting should be approached with a less is more consideration in mind. They key here again is to illuminate features of the landscape rather than the entire property---which for very large businesses may be dozens, or even hundreds, of acres. Pathways and decorative benches can be lit quite cost effectively with fluorescent lighting bollards. Low voltage halogen fixtures can be very effective in accenting waterways, commemorative statues, ponds, and fountains. Decorative commercial lighting posts with ornamental fixtures are often chose to create historical themes or aesthetic elements in key locations without overkill or over spending.

RLLD Commercial Lighting not only provides detailed information on these and many other subjects free of charge to all of our clients, but also publishes information on new technology and industry trends to all who enroll in our online community program. Contact us now for more information or visit our comprehensive archives of lighting case studies.

RLLD Commercial Lighting carries a wide variety of industrial & commercial lighting fixtures. If you can not find what you are looking for call us toll free at 1-866-654-3961 and we will find it for you. Our commercial sdesign studio is located in Houston, Texas with manufacturers located throughout the United States that enable us to service all 50 states including Sault Ste Marie, MI (CIU), Cleveland, OH, (CLE), College Station, TX (CLL), Port Angeles, WA (CLM), Charlotte, NC (CLT), Columbus, OH (CMH), Champaign, IL (CMI), Hancock, MI (CMX), Cody, WY (COD) and Colorado Springs, CO (COS).