Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Path lighting

[rhmorrison (rhmorrison]

    T William Smith of Belfast (Maine) Cohousing asked about this. IMO it was a 
good decision to not go with solar-powered path lighting. The days there are 
very short on the shortest days and the lights would probably not store enough 
power to stay on for the entire night. This would cause a hazard for the many 
people who must walk the paths in the winter before dawn. 
  I'm at Mosaic Commons Cohousing in Berlin, MA. We chose path lights that are 
2-3 feet off the ground. IMO this was a bad choice. During the winter they are 
often buried in snow, which means extra shoveling, on top of the extensive hand 
shoveling we must do, to shovel out the lights. Even if they aren't buried in 
snow, the snow piles often block the light from reaching the path. So I would 
recommend that you have lights that are at least 4 feet high. 
   If the lights are within a foot of the path, they WILL be bumped by snow 
removal machines, so you are smart to consider this. 

Bob Morrison