|
|
|
|
|
..... The opinions expressed in these articles and features are those of their author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of McANA or the opinion of its Directors or Officers. |
||
|
Indianapolis
-- the Light Side Light pollution’s impacts go far beyond losing enjoyment of the night sky. Intrusive commercial lighting, badly designed streetlights, and neighbors’ unshielded security lights are driving hazards, damage the ecosystem and threaten human health, waste tax funds, and unnecessarily diminish quality of life. Biological Effects: Current research suggests disturbing effects from our 120-year-old experiment to “light the night.” The biorhythms of flora and fauna, evolved over the ages in harmony with a 24-hour daylight-darkness cycle, are being disrupted by electrically lighted nights. Feeding, mating, dormancy periods, and migration activities are all effected. Alarm bells are also sounding for human health impacts. Our circadian clocks, which regulate hormone levels, are constantly reset by dark deprivation. Women night-shift worker studies revealing a high incident of breast cancer suggest a link to artificial light, bolstered by studies that indicated an abnormally low incident for blind women, obviously not thus affected. Tumors implanted in lab rats grew fast in a group exposed to night-light, but shrank in those provided a normal light-dark cycle. Price and Safety: The Indiana Council on Outdoor Lighting Education (ICOLE) estimates that electricity wasted by misdirected and excessive lighting costs Indiana ratepayers over $100 million annually. The largest ratepayer is government. Prudent governments save money by addressing lighting concerns. For instance Calgary, Canada, expects to save over $2 million annually simply by improving its streetlights. The most wasteful, poorly designed streetlight is the ubiquitous “period piece,” or “acorn” fixture. Although attractive by day, it’s design mimics what cavemen used – an exposed light source on a pole. A glass shell, usually distorted or incorporating ill conceived refracting properties, minimally subdues the bare bulb’s glare. To experience a mild version of its effect on vision, set up a table lamp in your dark backyard with the shade removed. Remember, a street lamp is at least five times brighter than the brightest household bulb. The eye adapts to a huge range of light, the brightest one trillion times brighter than the dimmest. However, the eye is forced to adapt to the brightest level in view, making dimmer objects more difficult to see. Thus an unshielded light source in the night causes safety problems by making everything else dark by comparison. Acorns’ typical pole-top mounting also creates a shadow around the pole, wherein pedestrians can disappear. (See http://fullcutoff.home.att.net/020100.jpg) Ironically, utilities receive a whopping three-fold monthly increase for decorative lighting over standard streetlights. Often government grants pay upfront pricey installation costs. Regulation: Years ago the City-County Council adopted well-meaning, but mostly ill-written provisions meant to minimize intrusive impacts from outdoor lighting. They attempted to address both excessive light intensity and directional control. (Directional control is focusing the light toward the area needing illumination) A past administration realized that the provisions against excess brightness lacked objective standards, making enforcement difficult. But, the directional control provisions have no such shortcoming and are indeed enforceable. Nonetheless, it was decided to ignore enforcement of all outdoor lighting code sections. Street lighting installations also ceased, even though desired in some neighborhoods. Occasionally it’s installed after publicity of an accident promotes the common assumption its absence was the cause, rather than being available in quality-designs minimizing glare and stray light, in neighborhoods wanting it. Although not well written, the City’s lighting codes were presumably intended to protect against safety hazards caused by glare and to protect adjacent property from the avoidable spillover of artificial night light. Absent enforcement, much commercial lighting presents hazardous driving conditions. To view the impact of a glaring floodlight near a railroad crossing visit http://fullcutoff.home.att.net/04090204.jpg The passage “equipment shall be of an appropriate type and be so located, shielded and directed that the distribution of light is confined to the area to be lighted” recurs in the City Ordinances. It essentially requires the use of fixtures designated as “full cutoff,” in which the bulb is hidden by an opaque housing. Full product lines of these favorable designs are readily available, including period styles. Our nocturnal landscape is replete with bad lighting. Lighting is effective when it is simply the right amount of light, used when and where needed. Thus far the Peterson administration is following predecessor footsteps, preferring to ignore enforcement of the existing lighting codes. Better code provisions are certainly needed, but we must begin enforcement of the current code now. Mayor Peterson sang neighborhood’s favorite tune in making code enforcement a campaign pledge. In at least one area of enforcement the grade earned thus far is “incomplete.” Additional Reading: "Light,
Endocrine Systems and Cancer: Facts and Research Perspectives" Ecological
Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting Negative impact on property values from light pollution, Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (formerly the State Board of Tax Commissioners) America’s
“safest city” five of the last six years, Amherst NY, regulates its
outdoor lighting http://www.generalcode.com/webcode2.html#newy Indiana
Council on Outdoor Lighting Education ICOLE's
online lighting tour International
Dark-sky Association send comments
to webmaster@mcanaindy.org |
|||
2003
