Landscape lighting can make a house look beautiful at night and provide safety.  I've always enjoyed highlighting a bit of the landscaping at our house by using low voltage lights to cast a soft light.  The outdoor lighting also provides a bit of safety by lighting up our sidewalk.  Visitors won't be stumbling around in the dark trying to make their way to our front door.

However, if you aren't careful these outdoor lights will light up more than your yard, over time the lights will increase your electric bill more than you think.

There is a farm behind our neighborhood where the house sits a couple of hundred yards off the street.  The homeowner has a beautiful home and uses several high powered fixtures to light up the house at night.  It looks like something out of a home magazine.  It really makes their home look fabulous at night.  I can't help but wonder how much it costs, though.

I have another neighbor who leaves several safety lights on all night long.  The high voltage bulbs cast a bright light, but also are on 10-12 hours per day and over the course of a year will add significantly to the electric bill.

So, how do you incorporate outdoor lighting into your energy-saving plan?  Here are my recommendations:

0. For safety lighting, only provide light to areas that really need it.  The front sidewalk is good, the dog's food/water bowl is not.  
0. Safety outdoor lights should be on motion detectors so that the lights only turn on when they are needed.
0. Use the lowest wattage bulb that will do the job.  Remember, the intent is to provide enough light to provide safety & security.  You're not trying to perform surgery on your back porch.
0. Ask yourself whether you need to light up every flower bed in your front yard.  Subtle lighting is actually more attractive than having too much.
0. Consider solar landscape lights.  We didn't use them, but there are many good models out there.

So how'd we do it?  I used the lowest wattage landscape lighting or solar lights. The result is that I have 6 lights that use 10 watts of electricity each.  They are turned on for 4 hours per night.  By my calculations, it costs me less than $1 per month to operate my landscape lights.  That's a dollar amount I can handle, or $0.00 per month if i use solar power.