Lights.com—Commercial Outdoor Lighting
Apart from security, which is always a concern with outdoor lighting, people shopping for commercial outdoor lighting are most concerned with efficiency. Outdoor lighting can be a sizable expenditure when all power consumption costs, bulb replacement costs, and maintenance labor costs are included. A more efficient system will draw less power, will usually require fewer bulb changes, and will require fewer man-hours to change bulbs over the life of a system.
Your lighting needs will determine what sort of lights you can use, and some trade-offs will invariably have to be made. If your needs stem mostly from security concerns, you will have to trade some efficiency for brightness. Your choice for security lighting will also be different if the lights are to light a parking lot than if they are to light a parking garage. Security lighting is about brightness and coverage. In a lot, coverage can be obtained with height; while in a garage, coverage is obtained with placement and numbers.
Also, each commercial situation may have specific concerns that must be addressed. Take the case of a fashion boutique or a small grocer. The small business owner wants to light the sidewalk to produce a more inviting atmosphere at night. Outdoor lights that give off a yellowish light are the most efficient, but they can create unpleasant color tones on anything in the store's windows--like jewelry, apparel, or fruit. Bright, security lights may be too harsh to be inviting. The best choice, then, may be wall lanterns with halogen bulbs since they are a bit more efficient but offer a white light.
Fiscal Reasons for Installing Outdoor Commercial Lighting
It is usually the case that enhancing a business's security system with robust security lighting will lower that business's insurance costs. Also, customers may feel more comfortable shopping at a store that is well lit in the evening, yielding obvious benefits to the bottom line. Plus, if you do business 24 hours a day, you can install photo-sensitive lights that come on at dusk and go off at dawn, to ensure that power will not be wasted should someone forget to turn them off.