Human Eye At Night

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LIGHT POLLUTION ISSUES AND ANSWERS Steve Pauley
MD Ketchum, Idaho
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Light Pollution
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http//www.darksky.org
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2/3 of the US population and 1/5
of the world can no longer see the Milky way.
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99 of the population in the lower 48 and the EU
live in areas where the night sky is above
threshold set for polluted status.
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The Cost of Throwing Away Electricity
The USA spends over 1.5 billion per year in
energy costs from wasted light. 6 million
tons of coal or 23 million barrels of oil
per year
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• Light Pollution Is the Easiest Type of Pollution
  to Fix.
• Reduce It, Shield It, Shine It Down.
• Light the Subject Hide the Source.
• Follow IESNA rec. levels.

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Light Pollution

• Outdoor lighting currently stands as one of the
  most inefficient uses of energy today.
• 30 to 50 of all light pollution is produced by
  roadway lighting that shines wasted light upwards
  and outwards.

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Light Pollution

• We wouldnt allow 30 to 50 of water from a hose
  to escape onto the pavement un-used. We wouldnt
  run our electric heaters in winter with the
  windows wide open.

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Light Pollution

• Then why do we allow 30 to 50 of light photons
  from outdoor lighting escape into space?
• We throw away electricity.

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Three Million Years of Dark Adaptation

• The same eyes we have today allowed our ancestors
  to live and hunt at night by the light of the
  moon and stars.
• Lets be allowed to use our eyes at night.

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Human Eye At Night

• 250 million years ago
• Evolution of the human eyes binocular vision
  began with the appearance of mammals
• Smaller noses and less sense of smell Better
  eyes with acute vision and depth of field

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Human Eye At Night

• Two million years ago
• Early man huddled around the light of fires on
  the African savanna
• 500,000 years ago
• Homo erectus used fire to cook food (China digs)

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Human Eye At Night

• 150,000 years ago
• Homo sapiens used fire for cooking and warmth.
  They used the same eyes we have today to
  navigate, hunt, cook, eat, and give birth under
  the light of the moon and stars
• 20,000 years ago
• Homo sapiens used shallow stone candles fueled
  with animal fat and with wicks of plant matter.
  Stone candles enabled stick figure art work on
  cave walls (France)

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Evolution of Light Pollution

• 3000 BC first candles
• Greeks, Romans through the middle ages
  oil lamps
• 1784 hollow wicks used for brighter light
• Early colonists fish whale oil lamps

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Evolution Of Light Pollution

• 1800s kerosene lamps
• 1801 first electric lamp -carbon arc
  lamp. Sir Humphrey Davy
• 1879 incandescent lamp. Thomas Edison
  Sir Joseph swan

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Evolution Of Light Pollution

• 1930s Mercury vapor (terrible beginnings)
• 1939 Fluorescent
• 1940 PAR lamps
• 1950s Tungsten Halogen
• -------------The End of Night------------------
  ---------------------
• 1960s Metal Halide and HPS
• 1980s Compact fluorescents (good energy
  savers)
• 1990s Electrodless (Induction) lamps
• 2000s Lighting designers run amok - laser
  shows bridge lighting tower lighting
  beacons on buildings

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We have the same eyes now that they had then.
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Thomas Edison

• Edisons electric light in 1879 resulted, over
  time, in forming an industry dedicated to selling
  the public the idea that the more outdoor light,
  the better.

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Todays Lighting Industry

• Harsh lighting is sold in the name of security,
  but more often it is used for advertising, and to
  sell bigger and brighter lighting fixtures.
• It has proven to be a visual insult to the human
  eye, and has gradually stolen the night away.

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Space Needle Seattle, WA Lighting designers
run amok
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Steves Fundamental Laws of Light Pollution

• First law
• Without local lighting ordinances, bad lighting
  gets progressively worse
• Second law
• A. Light pollution is directly proportional to
  improvements in lighting technology, and
• B. Inversely proportional to an awareness of the
  issues at the local level city planners can
  reverse the trend

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Steves Fundamental Laws of Light Pollution

• Examples
• Progressive eye insults beginning with
  incandescent bulbs, then HID lamps, then schemes
  to light up cities and bridges

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Evolution of light pollution In Los Angeles
1908-1998
1908
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1998 What will we look
like in 2098?
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TYPES OF LIGHT POLLUTION Glare Light
Trespass Sky Glow Air pollution Energy
waste Confusion and clutter
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Types of Light Pollution

• Glare
• Light that beams directly into your eye
• from an annoying light fixture
• Blinding glare gas stations, theater effect
• Disability glare scattering of light
  elderly with cataracts
• Discomfort glare annoyance, fatigue

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• Light Trespass
• When Light Crosses Property Lines
• The Spillover of Light Where Its Unwanted and
  Unneeded
• Light Trespass a Neighbors Unwelcome Light
  Can Reduce the Value of Ones Property.

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Light Trespass
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Skyglow lights up birds and planes
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Types of Light Pollution

• Air pollution greenhouse gasses from fossil fuel
  power plants
• Light confusion and clutter too many
• kinds of different fixtures and colors of light

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GLARE
Gas Stations
Glare is never good
Good on left, bad on right
Who is safe here?
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Can you find the bad guy?
This tree is safe
Glare lighting does not allow the eye to see
into the shadows
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The acorn trap They look their best in
daylight.
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Original globes had soft, incandescent lights
Todays globes and Acorns have glare
producing HID lamps (hps, mh)
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Globes and acorns light the trees better than the
ground
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Glare from acorn light
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No lighting awards here
Turning night into day while insulting the
eye with glare
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What Is Good Lighting?

• It lights for the human eye using only the amount
  of light needed (follow the IESNA guidelines).

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Good Lighting

• It lights the subject and hides the light source
  (lamp).
• It provides adequate light for the intended
  task, but never over lights.

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Good Lighting

• It uses fully shielded light fixtures.
• It minimizes adverse impacts (light trespass) on
  adjacent property.
• It uses high efficiency lamps while considering
  the color and quality as essential design
  criteria.

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Luminance The perceived brightness measured in
candelas/sq meter.
Illuminance The visual effect that luminance
produces. Measured in Footcandles lumens/sq
foot Or Lux lumens/sq meter
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Illuminance

• Foot-candles (fc) lumens / sq foot. We use
  fc
• in the USA
• Lux lumens/sq meter
• A local gas stations lights peak at 270 fc
  over 10,000 times the light from a full moon. The
  IESNA minimum safe light levels for an urban gas
  station 10 fc rural 5 fc
• Lighting ordinances should specify limits in
  lumens not watts

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Lumens And Watts

• A watt one joule per sec., Or a current of one
  amp. Under an electrical pressure of one volt.
• Idaho Power residential now about 5.7 cents/kwh
• USAs avg. Rate 8 cents/kWh.
• A lumen a unit of luminous flux or a measure of
  the intrinsic brightness of a lamp. (An
  isotropic point source of luminous intensity of 1
  candela emits one lumen into a unit solid angle
  of one steradian (sr), or 4 pi lumens on the
  spherical surface surrounding the point source).

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. A Lights Efficiency Is
Measured inLumens Per Watt70 Watt Incandescent
Bulb 1200 Lumens70 Watt High
Pressure Sodium Lamp 6300 Lumens 60
Watt Incandescent Bulb 900
Lumens 15 Watt Compact Fluorescent Bulb
900 Lumens Lighting Levels Are Best
Expressed in Lumens, Not Watts.All HID Lamps
Today (HPS, LPS, MH, MV) Are Over 1800 Lumens
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Light Sources, Watts, and
Lumens Source Watts Lumens Life Lu/W Incandes
cent 100 1,690 750 hrs 17 Tung-Halogen 300
6,000 2,000 20 Comp. Fluorescent
26 1,800 10,000 70 Merc. Vapor 175 7,900
24,000 45 Metal Halide 100 8,075 10,000
81 Metal Halide 400 36,000 20,000
90 HPS 70 6300 24,000
90 HPS 250 26,000 24,000
90 LPS 180 33,000 24,000 150 Street
lights are on 4100 hrs/year. HPS LPS lamps will
last 5.8 yrs
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Pole Heights and Lumen Limits Pole
Height Lumens 6ft 400-1000 (Incandescent,
PAR, 8ft 600-1600 fluorescent,
halogen) 10ft 1000-2000 12ft 1600-2400 16ft
2400-6000 (begin HID lamps) 20ft 4000-8000 2
4ft 6000-9000 28ft 8000-12000 32ft 9000-2
4000 36ft 12000-28000 40ft 16000-32000
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Useful Reference Levels for Foot-candle Values

• 1. Full moon .02 fc
• 2. Living room 10 fc
• 3. Sitting at my computer 12 fc
• 4. Schools 7.5
  - 30 fc
• 5. AAA league baseball park 85 fc
• 6. Todays gas stations 50 - 270 fc
• 7. Jewelers counter 400-800 fc
• 8. Operating table light 490 fc
• 9. Sunlight
  10,000 fc

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Native Hog Steelhead -- Steve Smith Salmon
River near Stanley April 2000
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• IESNA
• The Illuminating Engineering Society of North
  America.
• Sets Minimum Foot-candle Levels Needed to Provide
  for Safety and Security for Specific Situations,
  I.E. Parking Lots, Walkways, Roadways, Gas
  Stations, Etc.

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IESNA Recommended Practices (RP) Publications
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Full Cutoff Shielding

• Essential remedy for glare and skyglow
• No light rays from the fixture go above the
  horizontal
• At least 90 percent of light is blocked in the
  near-sideways range from 0 to 20 degrees below
  the horizontal

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35 Sky Cap shield placed to cut glare, trespass,
skyglow
Typical 175 w mv unshielded yard light
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Recessed canopy lights
Yes. Big Oil can do these canopies
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Aluminum shielding over canopy lights
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Security Issues
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SECURITY
More than meets the eye i.e. not just glare
lighting More light does not better
security. Security effective, non- glare
lighting.
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Lighting and Safety

• More light does not equate to better, safer
  light.
• You can have less but more efficient lighting and
  not compromise safety at all.

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• Glare From Poor Lighting Allows Criminals to Hide
  in Dark Shadows. Shielded, Non Glare Lighting
  Allows One to See in the Shadows.
• Were Not Saying Lets Turn Out All the Lights.
• Lighting for Security Means Effective, Shielded,
  Non Glare Lighting That Meets the IESNA Minimum
  Light Levels.

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Lighting and Crime

• A complex issue
• No study proves that more light decreases crime
• More light does give people the feeling of more
  security

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Lighting and Crime

• Most crimes take place during the day
• Two congressional crime task forces (1979 1997)
  found no relationship between lighting and crime
• There are simply no good scientific studies
  that convincingly show the relationship between
  lighting and crime. - (Ref - IDA information
  sheet 42 4/98)

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Crime Deterrents at Night

• Best dog (pit bull?)
• Next best shielded, infrared motion detector
  flood lights combined with a video camera. Some
  schools have gone dark, used this system, and
  vandalism has decreased

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Total solar eclipse Zimbabwe June 21, 2001
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LIGHTNG ORDINANCES
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• Why an Ordinance?
• Enhances the quality of life for all.
• Sets a uniform code for all outdoor lighting.
• Architects dont need to guess what
• what you want saves them time and
• the clients .
• Enhances safety and security by reducing glare
• Reduces light pollution.

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• Allows redress for citizens exposed to a
• neighbors bad light
• It can lead to cost savings

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• Without Lighting Ordinances, the Bad Practices of
  the Last 100 Years Will Simply Escalate in the
  Name of Economic Progress and Safety.

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12 Points For A Good Lighting Ordinance

• 1. Promote good lighting without compromising
  safety or security.
• 2. Convert street lights to full cut-off
  fixtures.
• That can result in reduced lumen levels, lower
  wattage lamps, and a savings in electric bills.
• Can reflectors be used instead of street
  lights?
• 3. Address glare from unshielded flood lights.

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• Address light trespass. Use Kennebunkport
  formula, not light police.
• H 3 D/3
• 5. Require that only the minimum IESNA lighting
  levels be reached for a given situation follow
  the IESNA RP guidelines
• 6. Prohibit upward lighting of all types

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7. Require signs to lighted from the top
down. 8. Educate all parties on what good
lighting should be. 9. Promote the use of motion
detector lighting and timing devices. Suggest all
non essential lighting be turned off by 11 PM.
10. Allow local P Zs to require lighting for
the human eye and safety using IESNA minimums,
rather than up lighting for trees, rocks, and
buildings. Down light flag poles. 11. Never
allow for more lighting than what is really
needed. Make lighting controlled, efficient, and
effective. 12. Enforce all lighting ordinances
with fines.
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Cost of Retrofitting

• Often recovered in three years. Depends on
  formula your utility company uses to bill for
  light pole maintenance.
• San Diego is saving 3 million a year in power
  bills by retrofitting its street light fixtures
  to LPS.

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Other Benefits

• Looks pleasant.
• Smooth, uniform illumination.
• Reduced glare is safer for motorists.
  You can see pedestrians and objects more easily.
• The elderly with cataracts are less affected by
  glare and will be safer drivers.

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Light at Night and Human Health

• Researchers have shown a definite link between
  exposure to light at night and lower melatonin
  levels in all living things.

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Light at Night and Human Health

• Exposure to light at night decreased melatonin
  levels. Part of our circadian system of
  light-dark rhythms.
• Nightly melatonin production by the pineal gland
  is needed for good health.

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• 5 Retrospective Studies
• Totally blind women with no light perception have
  a
• roughly 30 less incidence of breast cancer.
• Human breast cancer cells implanted in rats
  grow faster
• when the rats are exposed to light at night.
  Melatonin levels
• are reduced by exposure to light at night.
• Breast cancer rates are highest in
  industrialized nations where
• night lighting levels are also the highest.
• Researchers are pursuing these connections.
• No cause and effect can be made now.
• Nightly melatonin production in humans is
  beneficial to
• our health. Light exposure interferes with that.

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• Light is a drug and that by abusing it, we risk
  imperiling our health.
• Dr. Russell J. Reiter
• University of Texas Health Science Center,
• San Antonio, TX

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Everybody Wins With Good Lighting

• Enhances the quality of life for all
• No compromise to safety or security
• Can save money
• Less pollution

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Everybody Wins With Good Lighting

• Less glare, light trespass sky glow
• Restores dark skies for stargazing
• Prevents the pervasive spread of light pollution
• Preserves the night skies for our children

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Steves Modification of the Iroquois 7
Generations Principle

• We should not pass through this life just to
  make our own lives
• easier at the expense of our natural world and
  future
• generations of humans.
• We are OF this planet, not unique to it. We
  are charged with acting
• as stewards of our natural world.
• We must take actions today that better the
  lives of those who,
• in 110 years, replace todays entire population
  on earth.
• Each of us can do just one small thing to
  better the lives of
• those who will be here 110 years from now i.e.
  preserve the night sky.

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Ketchum Dark Sky Ordinance- 1999
Incandescent(w) Up to 260 lumens (20w)
May be unshielded 260 1000 lumens (20-60w)
No bulb showing opaque top 1000 1800 lumens
(60-120w) Floods 0ver 1800 lumens
Must be full cutoff fixtures with no (all HID
lamps) light above the horizontal --------------
--------------------------------------------------
------------ Floods Lights from 1000 - 1800
lumens Must have shielding and opening may
not tilt upwards more than 25 degrees
from horizontal. Timers and motion sensors are
encouraged. Motion sensors must go off in 5
minutes.
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Ketchum Lights
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Old drop lens light
In Sept. 2001, Idaho Power completed the retrofit
of all drop lens street lights to these fco
lights. This has reduced glare, sky glow and
light trespass without compromising safety.
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Guardco Lights
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Ketchum FCO Parking Lot - Metal Halide Guardco
Lights
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Good FCO Lighting In All Places
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There are exceptions
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Overkill too much full cutoff lighting
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This bldg. has 15 50 watt hps at 4000 lumens
each, 21 ft apart and 9 ft high. Ridiculous
lighting.
Total Overkill. These should be compact
fluorescents And only 3 per side of the bldg.
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• 50watt hps
• lamps 10 ft high,
• 4000 lumens each,
• 21 ft apart.
• 60,000 lumens of
• light surrounding the
• bldg.

Overkill
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Unfortunately this is legal under the Ketchum
Ordinance since these are all fco lamps.
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Overkill
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Perfect Lighting
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Bad Wall Pack
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Better Wall Light
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Better Wall Light
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Ketchum Post Office
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Back lit sign with too much white. Neighbors
complained.
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For most business sign lighting, a
down-shielded light under 1800 lumens is all
thats needed.
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These quartz-halogen floods are not shielded, are
over 1800 lumens, and therefore illegal
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Good FCO Lights
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Opaque cover diffuses light better
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FCO lights at entry
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An elementary school parking lot with no lights.
No problems.
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JAWS
29 inch brown Silver Creek Dry Fly 6-21-97
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END
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35 Sky Cap shield placed to cut glare,
trespass, skyglow
Typical 175 w mv unshielded yard light
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29 inch brown Silver Creek Dry Fly 6-21-92