1970s legacy design and fixtures
Any new design may or should follow similar vertical lines, geometric style and metal materials common in Incline Pines. Inspired by 20th century design, but with ‘prairie’ or craftsman influences common to the Pacific US region.
In picking the best new light fixtures, it is helpful to look at what residents like or don’t like about existing lighting:
- Original, wood-plastic lights are attractive– but they are aging and not all are safely connected to electrical grounding
- Newer post lights seem cheap. Plastic hoods and lenses are breaking
- Light bulbs are all different ‘colors’ or color temperatures and brightness
- Maintenance, longevity should be a consideration
Window glare and Tahoe’s starry nights
Glare into unit windows is a problem for many of the lights we have today. We know because there are many fixtures which owners have spray painted, covered with stickers or otherwise altered to block annoying light. Lighting that invades unwanted areas or homes is call “light trespass”.
Many communities strive to limit trespass lighting by requiring all exterior lights to be what are known as cutoff or partially cutoff fixtures. The Dark Sky movement is a campaign to reduce light pollution.
The advantages of reducing light pollution include an increased number of stars visible at night, reduced effects of artificial lighting on the environment, reduced energy usage and preservation of the dark nighttime environment critical to some nocturnal animals’ natural rhythms.
Fixtures can be Dark Sky certified, an industry standard allowing a bare minimum of light to travel upward. Other fixtures can meet Dark Sky goals by incorporating cutoff or full cutoff in their designs.
‘Trespass’ lighting
Light color temperature
The color of lighting is described in temperature (degrees Kelvin). Dimmer bulbs usually are more yellow in their appearance. Higher temperature bulbs have more overall light, but become white and blue in their appearance. In household bulbs: Warm white bulbs are roughly 2200-2700K, cool or bright white bulbs are 3100-4500K, daylight bulbs are 5000K+.
Many of the light bulbs used at Incline Pines are harsh and glaring– and much of that comes from the color temperature of the bulbs. The post lights came with compact fluorescent bulbs and those bulbs have a higher color temperature and wattage, making the glare in some windows unpleasant.
We can experiment with the color of the lamps in our existing plastic post lights. The fixtures are being fitted to accept standard screw-in bulbs, and those bulbs are available with LED technology – for energy savings – but in a variety of colors. A variety of bulbs can be tried for only the cost of the bulbs.
The best security lighting is not a soft, yellow light since it reduces how much can actually be seen. If the color is too bright it becomes a bright, white spot on the landscape. Many exterior lights strike a balance, at about 4000K, which is close to moonlight– so security threats and bears can be seen without the light being unattractive.