Good Neighbor Lighting Award

A fully shielded fixture is designed so that, in its properly installed position, all light emitted shines below the horizontal plane where the light is emitted. Basically, the light should be in a "can" facing down.  If an unshielded fixture is used, the lumen output should be very low to limit its impact.

The color temperature of light is measured in units called Kelvin (K) and corresponds to how much blue light is emitted (the higher the Kelvin, the bluer the light).  The color temperature now recommended by DarkSky International (formerly known as the International Dark Sky Association) for most outdoor lighting is 2200K, but because 2200K fixtures are not yet commercially available for all LED outdoor lighting applications, the Massachusetts Medical Society recommends using at most 2700K whenever possible. 

Only if 2700K is not commercially available for the application in question should a higher color temperature be used and in no case should it be higher than 3000K. 

For years we’ve bought light fixtures and bulbs based on wattage -- the amount of energy they use -- and associated that with their brightness. But now that there are more energy-efficient alternatives to incandescent bulbs, wattage is no longer an accurate way to gauge brightness. A 9-watt LED could be as bright as a 60-watt incandescent bulb. The best way now to judge the brightness of a fixture or bulb is based on its lumen output. Lumens are a direct measurement of the amount of light that the fixture or bulb emits. The higher the lumen value, the brighter the light.

How many lumens are needed for outdoor lighting depends on what it’s being used for, but what's needed for adequate visibility is often lower than what many people are accustomed to. 

Outdoor lighting should be turned off when it's not needed.  For nonresidential properties, this should be from one hour after closing to one hour before opening. If lighting is needed for safety and security in between these hours, it should be on a motion sensor so that it turns off or is dimmed to at least 50% when activity is not detected for 15 minutes.