Tips for Finding Green Accent Lighting

When you’re building a commercial business or maintaining a commercial property, you want to do everything you can to boost appeal, draw customers, build accountability and become the successful company or source your clients, customers or members choose to count on. Whether you manage an office building or medical practice, retail store, apartment or condo complex, homeowners’ association, religious institution, municipality or other commercial location, developing your reliability, reputation and public appeal is about your commercial presentation as well as your services.

Developing your image doesn’t only mean advertising your organization’s services, mission and benefits on paper — it means promoting your physical, literal image by showcasing the organization itself.

Presenting an attractive, approachable, appealing persona includes making your commercial property as inviting as possible, and highlighting your architecture, signage and other essential features of your building is a great way to do this. How? With commercial accent lights, of course.

Placed strategically to highlight the attractive aspects of your commercial property, liven your landscape and lend a sense of sophistication and cheer to your organization, commercial lighting can make your property and organization stand out in a way that makes a difference to both business and a positive reputation.

Not sure whether accent lights are the right choice for you, or wondering how to incorporate exterior lighting, how to get it installed or how to choose between traditional and green commercial lighting options? From highlighting how accent lights benefit your property and sharing tips on choosing lights to understanding the benefits of green commercial lighting and talking to landscaping companies about your options, here’s everything you need to know about installing commercial accent lights.

Benefits of Commercial Accent Lights

You know exterior accent lighting will keep your property semi-lit at night and allow passersby, customers or community members to see the best of your building, but what does it do for the success of your organization beyond its appearance? When you’re marketing an optimal image for your services, reliability and personality, appearance represents a significant part of your commercial success. Here’s how commercial accent lights make that success, growth and business sustainability possible.

• • Curb appeal: Especially if you’re maintaining a commercial business like an office building, retail location or residential complex, the exterior appearance of your property has a lot to do with the customer or client traffic it draws. An uninviting exterior doesn’t exactly command attention or convince people of the quality of your services, but a well-maintained, well-highlighted appearance on the exterior convinces your audience of the quality and reliability of your internal services, as well. Plus, if it comes time to sell your property or assess its value, an attractive exterior will boost its curb appeal for sales and appraisals — commercial accent lighting can help contribute to all that.

 

• • Property visibility: For new customers and members as well as prospective client traffic, your commercial property should have an exterior that stands out, draws attention and catches the eye, especially if you have business hours on winter evenings after the sun has set or you occupy a crowded complex with multiple other commercial properties. People shouldn’t have to search for your property building when they come for your services — instead, they should be able to recognize it right away, and instead of having clients who wonder where your property is, you should have both satisfied customers and walk-ins who stopped by because your property caught their eyes. Commercial lighting will make your exterior stand out and provide you with both these benefits.

 

• • Customer attention: Drawing and keeping a customer’s attention are equally as important — and whether or not we like to admit it, we often do judge based on appearances. If your customers, clients or members are deciding where to shop, what representative or practitioner to choose, what organization to join, which apartment complex to rent from or any other choice involving your services versus a competitor, the presentation of your property will be a factor. When you present a well-kept, attractive, sophisticated exterior image with highlighted, noticeable features and signage with commercial accent lighting, your customers will have a more positive impression of your organization and be more likely to choose you over competitors.

 

• • Safety: When it comes to protecting both your property and your workers from accidents, theft and other risks on your organization’s property, keeping the exterior well-lit is a necessity that goes beyond aesthetics to functionality. Accent lighting directs lighting to specific places on your property, so you can keep areas with high traffic volumes — like walkways, parking lots and entrances — well-lit at night to give customers more confidence, deter trespassing and break-ins and protect your employees from any dangers or accidents when they’re traveling to and from work. Safer businesses are more attractive, and providing extra security is another way commercial lighting betters your organization’s appeal.

 

• Easier maintenance: In addition to the employee-to-customer interactions taking place on your property, you’ll need to think about the necessary traffic of maintenance, repair and cleaning. You’ll need to keep your property clean and attractive, as well as well-lit, meaning you’ll have intermittent visits from lawn care specialists, exterior cleaners, repair technicians and other professionals who work with you to keep your organization looking and performing its best. Possessing optimal exterior commercial lighting will provide the same benefits for your maintenance professionals as your employees and customers, making the property safer and more secure for after-hours repairs, ensuring your workers notice your property and allowing your building and grounds to stay in the best shape as a result.

Tips for Choosing Good Lighting

You know how much commercial accent lighting can do to make your property stand out and bring your business or organization the success you desire, but how do you know where to position your accent lights, what they should illuminate and what kind of lighting to choose? Before enhancing your property with exterior lighting, you should think about your goals for the feature and how lighting will factor into your expenses and use of energy. Here are a few factors to consider when choosing the best lighting options for your commercial site.

• • Identify location: Before installing your lighting on your property, you should put some specific thought into where it should go for the convenience of both you and your customers and the best integration into the layout of the exterior. Do you want your accent lights attached to the building to make specific architectural or functional features more prominent, or are you hoping to incorporate the lights into the landscape around your building for a more natural feel? Do you want your lights pointing upward at the exterior of your building like a spotlight, or down toward the ground to create a soft glow? Where you place your lighting and how you hope to position it will have a lot to do with the types of lighting structures you choose, so identify the ideal location before deciding on lights.

 

• • Highlight important features: What is your goal for incorporating commercial accent lights into your commercial property’s exterior? By nature, accent lights are designed to be concentrated on specific areas, drawing focus to particular features for style, function or emphasis while throwing less essential areas into contrast. Before installing your accent lighting, consider what aspects of your property you want to highlight for your customers and the public. Are there specific features of the architecture you hope to make more noticeable, or are you trying to emphasize your signage to identify your business easily? Do you want to highlight the landscaping features on your property grounds for aesthetic purposes, or do you want to make it easier for visitors to find their way by illuminating walkways and entryways? Any use of accent lighting is acceptable if it suits your purposes for your organization, but make sure you know what your goals are before beginning.

 

• Consider energy efficiency: While commercial lighting does so much for the advertisement and success of your property, it can also be an unexpected and hefty expense for both your business and the environment. Paying for electricity to service your property’s exterior at all hours can result in a large service bill, and the constant replenishing and disposal of the bulbs and supplies required to keep your exterior display constantly lit means contributing a lot of extra waste to the earth. To reduce both your electric bill and your environmental footprint, choose the energy efficiency and eco-friendliness of green commercial lighting options. Not only do they require less lighting fixtures and energy flow to light your property, but they require less frequent maintenance and replacement, making your accent lighting sustainable and maintainable.

The Importance of Choosing Green Commercial Lighting Options

As opposed to traditional incandescent light bulbs — which use electricity costing five to 10 times the price of each original bulb in its lifetime — green commercial lighting options like LED lights are solid, efficient, long-lasting bulbs that promote extreme energy efficiency. They come in clusters that use one-third to one-30th the wattage of incandescent bulbs, use recyclable materials and are mercury-free, meaning they cut back on the emission of greenhouse gases.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, if almost all residences and businesses made the switch to green lighting, the world would save $265 billion in electric costs in the next 20 years, in addition to cutting back rapidly on power plant production and greenhouse gas emissions. Already, more than 60 percent of U.S. utilities and government facilities use green lighting — and choosing green commercial lighting options for your exterior accent lighting will contribute to widespread cost-cutting, eco-friendliness and your bottom line, which is why it’s so important to ensure you go green with your lighting.

Benefits of Green Commercial Lighting

You can see why green commercial lighting options are optimal for your efforts toward boosting business and making your property more appealing with accent lights, but if you need further proof they’re the best choice, here are all the benefits of green commercial lighting.

• • Lifespan: Designed to burn for 50,000 to 100,000 hours on average, green lighting options like LED lights have an incredibly long lifespan. In fact, they last 10 times longer than other fluorescent lights, and 40 times longer than traditional incandescent bulbs.

• • Energy efficiency: Offering lighting up to 80 times more efficient than incandescent light bulbs, LED lights provide so much more energy for less cost.

• • Light quality: In addition to their energy and cost savings and long-lasting qualities, LED lights produce a light quality that’s adjustable, doesn’t take extra time to “heat up” and is healthier for those exposed.

• • Safety: As opposed to fluorescent bulbs that use mercury or carbon dioxide to power lighting and heat, LEDs contain no toxic materials, which means they’re both better for the environment and less dangerous for exposure should they break.

 

• • Durability: While incandescent and fluorescent bulbs are very fragile and break easily, LED lights are very strong, sturdy and difficult to shatter or break. Made of a thick material without filaments, LED lights resist bumping and jarring without breaking, making them ideal for exterior use.

 

• • Versatility: Whether you need lighting in your parking lot, the exterior of your building, above your entrances or on your landscaping, LED lighting is easy to adjust to your needs, position the way you like, adjust for dimness and brightness and fit into any environment.

 

• • Control: LED lighting’s multiple adjustable features to customize your lighting environment offer you optimized control over the environment in which you set up your accent lighting. With abilities like timing, sensors, daylighting, dimming capabilities, smartphone optimization and more, the options are endless.

 

• • Return on investment: Because of their long lifespan, durability and energy efficiency, LED lights offer you so much cost-effectiveness and a significant return on investment of 12 to 15 times their original price. Talk about efficient!

 

• • Convenience: Because they last so long and provide a much better quality of light per bulb, LED lighting options require much less maintenance and replacement, making them much more convenient and sustainable than other more costly and less sturdy incandescent and fluorescent options.

 

• • No emissions, noise or heat: LED lights don’t need to use heat, so they save more money on electricity and pose fewer hazards. They also will not buzz, produce static sounds or release UV emissions, so they’re ideal for a commercial setting.

 

• Recyclability and eco-friendliness: Unlike other types of bulbs that use toxic materials, LED lights are recyclable, making them easier to dispose of and healthier for the environment.

How to Choose Green Commercial Lighting

Ready to install your exterior accent lighting and wondering where you can find the best green commercial lighting options? Offering professional commercial lighting design for your business, association or other property, Complete Landscaping Services expertly illuminates your exterior with special attention to visitor accessibility, aesthetic appeal and emphasis on your preferred features with integrated, eco-friendly systems that work both for your business and the environment.

We specialize in green peace of mind, and we’re ready to work with you for green commercial lighting designs to make your property shine efficiently and energy efficiently. To learn more about our lighting design services and discuss the best green commercial lighting options for your property, talk to one of our experts today.

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