[NHCOLL-L:3170] RE: building lights and pests

[Simmons, John E]

Any light source that is sufficient to light up the building will
attract some pests.  Mercury vapor lights are the worst (they attract
the most pests), sodium vapor and yellow incandescent lights attract far
fewer pests. Mount the exterior building lights away from the building
so that the light source shines on the building--in other words, have
the lights mounted on a pole or at ground level, pointing at the
building.  This will give you good security lighting on the building,
yet attract the pests away from the building to the light source.  If
you don't need the exterior building lights to be on all the time, use
motion sensor lights--these are not very expensive, and turn on only
when they are needed.

--John

John E. Simmons
Collections Manager, Natural History Museum & Biodiversity Research
Center
and
Director, Museum Studies Program
University of Kansas
1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7561
Telephone 785-864-4508
FAX 785-864-5335
jsimmons at ku.edu
www.nhm.ku.edu/herpetology
www.ku.edu/~museumst
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Helen Alten
Sent: Friday, August 25, 2006 10:10 AM
To: nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:3169] building lights and pests

Does anyone know of an exterior building light that will not attract
pests 
to the building?
Best,
Helen Alten