The Wrong Outdoor Lighting Can Upset Wildlife – but These Types Reduce Light Pollution & Create a Cozy, Inviting Nighttime Landscape
Don't disrupt your local wildlife, beneficial insects, plants, or neighbors with improper outdoor lighting. Use these low light pollution alternatives instead.
Outdoor lights can add accessibility and beauty to your landscape, but they can also cause some serious problems as well. Many outdoor lighting fixtures waste energy and increase your utility bills, but the biggest drawback is light pollution.
Not only does light pollution ruin the natural beauty of the stars and other celestial bodies in the night sky, but it also has negative effects on both humans and wildlife – including plants. Artificial lights upset the circadian rhythms of many insects and animals. They can scare away beneficial wildlife, disrupt pollination of the plants in your garden, and increase the predation of key species. And while artificial lights may make certain beneficial wildlife leave your yard, they can also attract unwanted species like mosquitoes.
Outdoor lighting isn’t all bad, though, as long as you choose the right kind. The proper lights can make your landscape more usable at night and create a cozy outdoor space where you can spend summer evenings. I’ve dug into the best outdoor lights to reduce light pollution in your yard, but that still provide plenty of illumination for you to enjoy your landscape at night.
Why Light Pollution Is a Problem
All plant and animal life on earth evolved in sync with the natural rhythm of day and night. This is hardwired into every species’ DNA, including humans. Artificial light and the resulting pollution from it disrupts the natural pattern of day and night. This has far-reaching consequences for wildlife, plants, and humans alike.
Artificial lights can confuse the seasonal migratory patterns of many species of birds. It can make nighttime hunting more difficult for predatory species and make it harder for prey to hide in bright environments. Light pollution also disrupts the mating process of many animals and beneficial insects, like frogs that sing at night or lightning bugs that flash during summer evenings. Artificial lights at night can even mess with plants’ growth cycles, blooming, and dormancy.
Light pollution can also negatively impact humans whose circadian rhythms are also impacted by artificial light, especially blue light. We’ve all heard the advice to put our phones and devices away at least an hour before bed. Exposure to artificial light at night suppresses our body’s production of melatonin, which makes it harder to fall asleep.
Best Outdoor Lights to Reduce Pollution
You don’t have to eliminate outdoor lighting altogether to reduce light pollution in your yard, but there are specific kinds of lights that are much better than others. The best outdoor lights to reduce light pollution meet these three criteria.
1. Warm-Colored Lights
Never use blue lights in your outdoor space. Many LED lights come in cooler color temperatures (5000K-6500K), but warmer color temperatures are much less disruptive to wildlife. Look for amber or orange lights with color temperatures in the 1000K-2700K range.
Lights in this color temperature range are easier on humans’ eyes, create less glare, and are less upsetting to plants’ and animals’ natural circadian rhythms. They also attract less bugs, so that means less mosquitoes biting you on your lighted patio at night!
These amber-colored LED don't draw in unwanted insects like mosquitoes the way blue or white lights do.
Add cozy ambience to your patio or backyard with these wildlife-friendly amber-colored string lights.
Modify existing floodlight fixtures with a simple bulb swap. These warm LED bulbs don't produce nearly as much light pollution.
2. Shielded or Downward-Facing Lights
Another key way to reduce light pollution is to choose lights that are angled downwards and shield any unnecessary light from spilling out into the night. Uplighting is the worst kind of outdoor lighting, if you’re worried about light pollution.
Instead of putting spotlights on trees or other features in your landscape, utilize down-lighting in key positions. Add a shielded light, like the farmhouse style sconce below, to your front porch and illuminate walkways with covered path lights that direct light where it’s needed.
I love the modern yet timeless look of these shielded garden path lights. They would fit with a wide variety of house styles.
This path light would blend right into any landscape. It directs light downwards to light up your path for a magical midnight stroll through the garden.
These farmhouse-style sconces direct light down to your porch or path where it's needed, instead of flooding your neighborhood with light pollution.
3. Dimmable, Motion-Sensor & Lights on Timers
Your outdoor lights should be as dim as possible to prevent any unnecessary light pollution. There are tons of dimmable outdoor lighting options available nowadays, many of which you can control via a remote or an app on your phone – if you’re the tech-inclined type. Lowe’s has thousands of dimmable outdoor lighting options that will suit any landscape.
If you can’t find dimmable outdoor lights that work with your landscape or you’re looking for something more hands-off, then motion-sensor outdoor lights are a great way to reduce light pollution. Motion-sensor lights only turn on when you are out moving around in your yard at night, which means they are only putting out light when it’s actually needed. Once you go inside for the night, they’re off and your landscape is back to its natural light environment.
Another good option is to use a timer. There are outdoor lights that come with a timer built in, but there are also timers for lights that you can buy separately and add to existing outdoor fixtures to reduce light pollution in your yard. Set your timer to turn off the lights when you go to bed at night to give both you and your local wildlife a good night’s rest.
Put these versatile dimmable LED strip lights underneath stair treads or along a porch railing to add a touch of illumination exactly where you need it.
These easy-to-install motion-sensor lights only turn on when you walk through your yard. Plus, they're solar-powered to save you money on power bills.
Just plug your outdoor lights into this timer and set them to turn off at night to keep light pollution to a minimum.
