By Clarissa Allison | August 14th, 2015

Look up at the sky tonight in your town. Odds are it will be almost completely devoid of stars. This is the product of light pollution and urbanization. Since human beings are used to dwelling in the sun’s light, we have essentially engineered the dark to surround ourselves with light during nighttime hours.

What exactly is astronomers and the occasional stargazer, uplight causes atmospheric scattering making distant celestial light sources difficult or impossible to see. Uplight often also goes along with two other light quality culprits by producing both glare and light trespass.

Once you’ve accomplished the above tasks, go out and buy yourself a telescope to view the night sky and enjoy its beauty.

Enjoy a tour of the wonderful Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona

Add the perfect custom finish to the front of your home with outdoor hanging lanterns and wall lanterns.

When using two outdoor lanterns, they should measure about 1/4 the height of the front door(s). When you are using only one lanterns, 1/3 of your door height is appropriate.

Outdoor hanging lanterns should be centered over your front door(s), high enough so that the doors may open and close freely. If you have a picture window or archway above the front door, center the fixture so that it may be seen from inside your home.

Wall lanterns surrounding the front doors should be proportional to your home, when in doubt, size up! Remember, fixtures appear smaller from curbside viewing than most people would imagine.

Wall lanterns are also appropriate for rear and side entrances and by garage doors – same rule of thumb for sizing applies for these areas.

Path Lighting should be placed 6′ apart to ensure adequate beam spread.

Be sure to make your space functional! Task lighting is an important piece of the design; it will provide guidance and illumination in the necessary areas to ensure safety.

Focused illumination on key holes and security pads allows for easy access when you are entering and leaving your home at night. Outdoor LED wall lights or recessed spotlights work well in these areas.

Add path lighting to walkways every 6’ to provide adequate beam spread. This will create curb appeal ambiance and visibility when walking at night. Don’t forget to add light near the house numbers – this can help in emergency situations and for deliveries!

After the sun goes down be sure your home has the same curb appeal as it does during the daytime by adding outdoor and uplighting to the landscape.

Illuminating trees or other elements from below will create soft focal points in the landscaping after the sun goes down. Use a flashlight to test where you’d like the light to hit, then mount the fixtures accordingly. Be sure to mount fixtures out of grass for ease of mowing and other landscaping tasks.

Be sure to view your outdoor lighting after dark before signing off on a project; it’s easy to make necessary adjustments to refine your outdoor lighting design.

To avoid being “that neighbor”, be sure to eliminate glare and make sure your outdoor light fixtures do not create “light trespass” into your neighbor’s property.

These systems are still expensive compared to the conventional electric generating plants such as hydro. And since they only generate power during the day, batteries or other storage systems are required to ensure power availability during the night or times when the conversion is low. This means spending more on batteries, which are currently the most popular storage devices.

Another limitation is the intermittent nature of light, making the energy unsuitable for some applications.

Space limitations may influence the maximum power that a consumer can generate. The cheaper panels have a lower conversion rate and require larger areas. However, customers may overcome this by using the more expensive but higher efficiency panels which require less space.

Improved photovoltaic technology, mass production and lower installation costs have seen the cost of photovoltaic systems and components such as batteries fall rapidly. Incentives such as financing, rebates, and wide acceptance by homeowners have influenced the use of the photovoltaic cells.