It’s that time of year again where summer is coming to an end, fall is around the corner, is your exterior lighting ready for the sun to set sooner? It’s important to start preparing your exterior lighting for fall, scheduling a lighting audit, and setting your timers.

What is a Lighting Audit?

Before we dive into the importance of a lighting audit and exterior lighting inspections during this time of year, we should cover what a lighting audit is. When scheduling a lighting audit, you can expect a lighting expert (like those on our team) to come out and conduct a walkthrough of your facility and its exterior lighting. During this walkthrough current lighting fixtures will be documented, and areas for improvement will be identified so that a plan can be drawn up to resolve these issues.

Things that are considered during an audit:

• General: Locating problem areas and identifying possible resolutions.
• Energy Usage: We also want to assess how much energy your current lighting fixtures are using, making plans to switch to LED if needed, and setting timers for hours of operation.
• Financial: During an audit, operating costs should be reviewed and analyzed for ways to cut down on expenses while maintaining a high standard level.

Why Setting Timers on Your Exterior Lighting is Important

We mentioned above that during the fall season, you’ll want to set timers on your exterior lighting, but your next question might be, “why is this so important?”

The answer is that timers are a great way to save energy! This is because they enable you to ensure that outdoor lights come on in the evening and nighttime when the sun has set, while switching off during daylight hours. Timers are one of the best and most efficient solutions for not wasting energy, and they allow your exterior lighting to be on at times of day when it’s most important.

As with all energy-saving techniques, setting timers on your exterior lighting will also save you money. Less wasted energy translates to less wasted money, and depending on the size of your property, the savings can be massive.

A final benefit to installing timers on your exterior lighting relates to maintaining a safe property and workplace.  As the seasons change and the sun starts to set at earlier times, the natural lighting we’ve become accustomed to during summer is shortened considerably, and if you’re living in the northern hemisphere, you can soon expect it to be dark around 5pm. At this time of day, some of your team members may be still at work, and depending on your industry, customers may still be visiting your commercial building, and if there is no exterior lighting, or poor exterior lighting, avoidable dangers could befall your employees and customers.

Parking Lot Lighting & Building Lighting

Having exterior lighting around your building is important year-round, but especially during the fall and winter. All your entryways should have at least one fixture by each door for safety and noticeability, and you might even consider adding lights along the pathways of your entrances. As we’ve mentioned before, the importance of including timers on your outdoor lighting system cannot be overstated. Timers ensure that lights are active at the times of day that they need to be.

Inspecting your building’s exterior lighting includes taking not on anything that may need to replace, loose electrical connections, bare or exposed wiring, and any other visible damage or unsafe conditions.

Lighting in parking areas should also be inspected during this time and be prepped for fall. We also want to make sure your parking lot fixtures don’t have rust as this could lead to safety issues. During an inspection you should be checking for broken or missing fixtures, loose electrical connections, bare or exposed wiring, rusted posts, missing anchor bolts, damage to the concrete base, and any other visible damage.

Conclusion

Exterior lighting audits should not be overlooked, and lighting timers should be very seriously considered. Both are important to the safety and security of your commercial building and to how your facility operates. Right now, is the perfect time of year to contact our professional team and schedule an audit of your exterior lighting including all entryways, pathways, and parking lots.

It’s important that your building is safe for employees and customers alike, which includes making sure your lights are on when they should be, are functioning well, and are installed properly. Contact us today to get your exterior lighting running smoothly as we transition into fall.