Be green. Lights off.

I leave mine off, but many neighbors seem to turn them on.

i have never left the porch light on except on halloween. seems impractical to leave it on. can't say i have many drop-in guests at night...

In the 70's when it was bad form to leave your porchlights on as we were all supposed to be conserving energy.

That's when lit porchlights became a signal that you were open to accepting visitors/company - So no light, no company.

We do not leave our porch light on. If I know my husband will be home late from work, then I will leave it on, but then as soon as he walks in the door he turns it off. Otherwise it just stays off. Never thought about it...maybe I should leave it on...

We use solar powered lights to light our walk. A great compromise they don't waste energy and are still welcoming since as long as we had some sun that day, they stay lit most of the evening.

I married someone who left the light on all night, and it took a year to get him into the habit of turning it off; I was raised with light staying on until bedtime & then going off. I suppose it was a kind of signal (like someone above mentioned) that you were no longer accepting company.

Then I finally switched out the front light to one that was motion-sensitive and timed to stay on 5 minutes -- just long enough and a little more for the car's hood to tip the edge of the motion area, and for us to get out and be inside by the time the light went off.

Now we keep the light off unless one of us is out or we're coming home late, because the porch light is behind a fat brick column that blocks the motion sensor from 'seeing' someone on the walk up to the house. Grrrrr.

Eventually I'll figure out a way around the brick column, because a motion-light is perfect for absent-minded types like me: comes on only at night, and even then only when needed.

(Whoops, should probably make it clearer: we moved from house with clear sight-lines from lamp to parking-space, to a house with no clear sight-lines thanks to fat brick columns.)

Ours is on day and night. I honestly can't remember the last time we shut it off.

I leave it on all night. . .And not because I expect visitors at all hours, I just think it keeps a would be intruder from picking my house versus a dark one.

Plus I use a CFL bulb so the energy cost isn't a bother.

This is a very interesting thread

I have a roommate who works nights, so I turn the light on for him coming home early in the morning before I go to bed. Otherwise I think I'd probably just leave it off.

I leave my porch light on only at night, but on every night, and wish that others did as well. I like to think that it makes the streets in my neighborhood a bit brighter. Our street lamps are dim are spaced far apart. Aside from hoping that the additional light would discourage crime, I also think that having lots of porch lights on would signal to any sketchy people that there are lots of eyes and ears in all those houses...wishful thinking? Our back porch light is on a motion sensor which is more green, but still safety conscious.

Mine is pretty neat. It has a photocell, a motion detector, and a dimmer built in.

At dusk, the light turns on at 50% power and stays on for 2 hrs, then turns off. When it's at 50% power, or off when it is night time, if it detects motion it flips on/up to 100% brightness.

The only major drawback is that I have an incandescent bulb in it because I have yet to track down a dimmable compact fluorescent bulb to go in it.

My family (who live in a rural area) only left it on when someone was expected. Otherwise, we saved the energy and kept them off.

I live in Tokyo now, and the lights seem to be turned on as soon as dusk arrives. I have no control over this, but I think that it's probably not such a bad habit for urban areas to enhance security.

We seem to be right between two far-spaced street lights so we've started to keep our porch light on at night to keep things lit up. Its a new habit ever since our car was broken into. It gives me peace of mind.

Put me down for another family with motion-sensor lights on the porch.

Growing up in the country, we were used to walking around in the dark. In fact I was always angry and neighbors who moved into the valley and put up a safety light that stayed on all night, because it interfered with night vision and made it harder to see the Milky Way.

i live in los angeles, and a dark porch at night means ROB ME.

1 -Stolen car (returned but stripped) and 1 broken into car (stereo, personal belongings and battery stolen) in front of our home so our light now stays ON! Suffice to say, we haven't had a problem since we started doing this two years ago.

I don't leave the lights on, but at the last new moon I was struck by just how dark my street is at night. The houses look uninhabited as no one leaves their lights on. It does feel a bit unsafe.

But my front light turns on 5 pot lights on the front porch and covered walkway. No way I'm leaving 5 75 watt lights on all the time!

i have to admit that i splurge and leave it on. sometimes when i come home from work late at night-- i LOVE how our house twinkles in the night and it makes it cozy for people walking or driving by...

I leave mine on all night. My neighborhood is dark (heavy tree canopy) and the streetligts are far apart. When porch lights are off, it is VERY dark. I started keeping my light on after my car got vandalized (it was sitting in a dark driveway). This was one of the suggestions that I was given in order to prevent vandalism and crime.

I am all for conserving energy & do so in many aspects of my tiny townhouse. I have two roommates, and two out of all three of us are females. For safety reasons in my mind, until I know everyone is home I keep the porch light on. It helps me find my house key when I get home & gives me a slight feeling of security at my door no matter the hour of the night. To offset this, all other lights in the house are turned off usually if the porch light is on.

I live in a very safe neighborhood so it wouldn't occur to me to leave it on to keep my house safe.

I have neighbors who have incredibly bright auto-on lights that are a real pain in the you-know-what, especially when they come home late at night (I live in urbania, but not right in the city). I do love the look of interior lights when out walking in the evening and of course am grateful for streetlights and sidewalks.

I leave it on (it's a CF). I leave it on to make our address clearly visible in case we need a police car or ambulance. Also, I feel it's worth the energy because I associate it with home security. I believe it deters burglars, who I assume would prefer a dark doorway in which to work, and people who might otherwise hide there, waiting for me to get back from the grocery store with my 10 p.m. gallon of milk. I am careful not to only leave it on when I "need" it, as then it becomes a communication to any observant person that I am not home at that moment or that I am alone waiting for my husband to come home. I don't think this makes me paranoid either; like locking my door, it is just a small precaution.

Sometimes I come home before my mom does but sometimes I don't. When I do get home earlier, I leave the light on as a signal to her that I already got the mail. We also leave the light on if we're expecting somebody at night. (And during Christmas we have one red cfl on one side and one green cfl on the other. How festive!)

I live in a townhouse subdivision, and there are two "porch" lights (though no actual porches). The ones by the garages are always on, for every unit, which makes the neighborhood a little safer to drive through at night. The ones by the front door (a mere 4 feet away from the aforementioned light) are on or off at the owner's whim, and more often than not, they're all off. There's really no need for them in our situation.

I leave it on for my boyfriend when I get home first... also for the downstairs neighbors who often get home later than we do.

Emily

I do about 50/50 when I forget to turn it on. But I also forget to turn it off during the day sometimes.

We also have motion sensor lights, but the sensors only really pick up motion about 10 feet out and barely reaches the driveway and wont come on if youre walking on the opposite side of the house. They came with the house so Im not complaining, but they arent very good.

As others have said, its more a security thing. Our neighborhood isnt that dark, but our corner doesnt have a street light.

Leave it on. Safer for you and pedestrians on your street. Just use a CFL bulb.

When I was in graduate school, my (two female) roommates and the folks who lived downstairs always left the porch light off to conserve energy. It creeped me out a little, because it was almost totally black in the front hall (old house, no overhead fixture) when I fumbled for my keys.

I bought a water proof, battery operated tap light for the hall and that helped a lot. Getting new neighbors helped more.

For 10 years I lived in an apartment that had dusk on/dawn off automatic lights that lit my parking space all the way to my front door. (Since it was a small complex and most of us were friends, we'd leave one visible set of blinds open if it was ok to stop by.) It made me feel more secure if I didnt get home before dark.

I moved into my husband's house and he never turns the outside lights on. There are 2 streetlights at either end of our street (we live in the middle of the block) but our street is still very dark. Very few people leave their porch lights on, and there is a fair amount of foot traffic which makes me uncomfortable, but that could just be small town girl living in the big city syndrome.

We have to walk 1/2 way down the side of the house to get to the front door (from the driveway - where I park - across the front, then down the side), then fumble with getting the key into the lock. We have a neighbor on that side that complains that she can't sleep with our porch light shining into her bedroom window so my husband just got in the habit of not turning that one on at all. I do turn them on if I'll be getting home after dark. If the neighbor complains to me, I'll buy her a set of black-out drapes.

Motion sensor LED on battery.

Motion Sensitive. Say no to light pollution.

Consider solar lights, if you have a front yard.

Our neighborhood is all bungalows so the garage path to the back/side door is the most used by residents. The only time we leave our front porch light on is on Halloween or if we are expecting someone. We leave our side door (where close friends and all deliveries are directed) on nightly until about 7:30 pm and from there on we have a motion censored light on the remainder of the night to conserve electricity. Our neighbor has a motion light and a BRIGHT side door light that lights both or our yards so we just piggy back his light!

Our neighborhood is slightly sketchy, with all the unpleasantness happening at night, so our porchlight is on at night. We must have the same one as ChzPlz:

"Mine is pretty neat. It has a photocell, a motion detector, and a dimmer built in.

At dusk, the light turns on at 50% power and stays on for 2 hrs, then turns off. When it's at 50% power, or off when it is night time, if it detects motion it flips on/up to 100% brightness.

The only major drawback is that I have an incandescent bulb in it because I have yet to track down a dimmable compact fluorescent bulb to go in it. "

i do feel that I must add, that although I don't leave the front porch light on, I do every night, put a table lamp on in the front room, even though we spend the remainder of our night in the basement or back of the house... it says, warm, inviting house, people ARE so don't rob us, BUT don't feel like you can come a knockin if we don't know you either... heh!

Usually no, unless I'm expecting someone, then I'll leave it on for them.

I used to live in a house with one porch light. The switch was in our 98 year old landlady's apartment. She always kept it off. Needless to say, coming home at 5:30 PM to a pitch black porch (I live in Boston) was never fun. It's a non-issue now in our new apartment building, but If I owned a home, I'd like to have a motion sensor-ed light (with a CFL bulb), because coming home to a dark house is so depressing, as is searching for keys in the dark (not to mention potentially unsafe!).

A timer turns mine on at dusk, and off around 1 a.m. It's not just for my safety, but for my neighbors walking their dogs, coming from the bus etc. at night.

I leave mine on when its dark for a few reasons. 1st is so that it appears someone is home. 2nd is so that I don't bust my behind walking from the car to the front stoop. 3rd is so that I can find the appropriate key on the key ring and the occasional search of the key ring in the bottom of the purse. 4th and probably my favorite reason is so that the other dog owners in my neighborhood don't let their doggy do its doo on my front lawn and leave it there for me to step on or for my dog to sniff around in. I turn it off when I come back in from letting my dog out for the last time before bed.

:o)

I used to leave it on every night in the hope that my lost love would return. He never did.

Ours are off to save energy but we do have motion lights on our walkway. My parents have their front lights on a timer, which I think is a good idea if you want to make your home more welcoming.

i don't have a porch, but since my parking is street & usually way down the street, i appreciate the lights. this part of the city doesn't have street lights. it's not fun being a young woman walking down a dark city street. one house uses a motion censor. i say if it's a populated area, use a cfl, if you're in the country, leave it off. also, it's a good idea to install the solar lighting.

I live in an apartment, but recently moved out of my parents' home. We lived in a normal suburbia neighborhood but there were some issues with petty crime. Our cars were broken into, gourds/outside decor was smashed, things were stolen. Our family also has several teenagers coming and going in darkness.

We leave lights on. It's a safety thing, not to mention common courtesy (I thought).