At least in my area the "Yard Lights" commonly installed in rural and/or "semi-rural" areas are considered an important security measure, but have the disadvantage that they're nearly always halide lights that require a special "ignition sequence" to get them turned on. Regulations generally require that a "turn on" be done by a licensed electrician, so it's rather expensive to turn one off if you intend for it to be turned back on. Hence they run 24 hours per day.

Never heard of these things.
For our own outside and mostly to see where we are going, I've got a couple of 300W halogen flood lights and a PIR sensor. They are rarely on for more than about 15 minutes.