Dark Sky Lighting
Surely you've been to a city where you look up and all you see is . . . a street light. Instead of glancing upon majestic Orion's belt or spying Ursa Major, you can't see any stars at all. Even a few miles outside the city, you can see the haze of city light settled like a fog over the metropolis. This is what's called light pollution - a phenomenon that wastes millions of energy dollars a year. In addition to wasted energy dollars, light pollution and unnecessary artificial light can be extremely harmful to surrounding ecological communities.
For example, lighted towers and buildings can confuse migrating and local birds so much that they fly into structures or other birds, or circle the lights until they die of exhaustion. Moreover, human health studies have shown that exposure to too much artificial light at night can slow down the body's production of melatonin (the hormone that tells the body's systems and hormones that it is dark) - an occurrence that has been linked to certain types of cancer. As a result, dark sky lighting was invented.
The term dark sky lighting refers to lights that cut glare, prevent light trespass, and reduce light pollution and sky glow in order to eliminate wasted energy. Communities around the nation are now passing legislation to enforce environmentally sound outdoor lighting practices.
What You Can Do to Help:
- Use IDA-Approved (International Dark-Sky Association) lighting for all of your outdoor lighting needs.
- Use only the highest-wattage bulb needed for your desired effect. Many people use bulbs much higher in wattage than necessary.
- Landscape lighting and security lighting should be fully shielded, so that the majority of the light hits the target and is not scattered into the air.
- Use a timer, or turn off lights when they're not needed.
- Consider your neighbor's point of view. You should never have landscape or security lighting that shines directly toward another residence.
