Yard Lights - use them sparingly

Yard lights are nice when you have a party. They're nice if you sit outside and enjoy the evening with friends and family.

As long as you're using them, it seems worthwhile to have them on, but if you're inside and not expecting someone to come calling, then it's probably time to turn them off.

Porch lights, coach lights and other lights in the yard are great ways to add attractiveness to your home, but at a cost. I choose not to incur that cost.

There are many excuses for thinking that lights in the yard are necessary. Here are a couple of them:

• Folks will complain that they can’t see our house at night. Tell 'em to come back during the day.

• People won't know whether we're home. Don't worry about it. They’ll see the lights on in other parts of the house and knock on your door if they're really interested in talking with you. Doing this without the aid of lights in the yard won't require detective skills nor exceptional bravery.

We might also justify keeping the lights on in the yard by installing a timer. That approach still leaves the lights on in the yard at night when you don't need them, and on top of that you're paying to run the timer all night and all day.

Unless you're inside near the picture window staring out at your illuminated yard, there just doesn't seem to be much benefit in operating the lights while you're in the house. Shut 'em off until they're needed.

Done with Yard Lights, back to Ways to Save Energy