THE INDIANA COUNCIL ON OUTDOOR LIGHTING EDUCATION
The following article was published on the editorial page of the Louisville Courier-Journal on April 3, 1999.
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Wouldn't it be nice to discover that one of our problems could be solved with no cost or sacrifice, and with only beneficial consequences? Kentuckiana has begun to recognize such a problem.
Misdirected outdoor light from poorly designed fixture installations creates annoying spillage into neighborhoods as well as into the sky, wasting coal-produced electricity. Worse, glare from unshielded light fixtures makes driving riskier, even for youthful eyes.
Fire hydrants leaking 40% of our water would create an outcry. Winter heat escaping through wide open windows would cause neighbors to question our intelligence. Yet the 40% of electrically-generated light leaking from typical fixtures uselessly off-property and into the sky continues. The cost to ratepayers in Indiana and Kentucky has been estimated at $70 million annually, our combined per capita share of the staggering $2 billion national cost estimate.
Outdoor lighting's growing usage has raced ahead of insight into the simple idea that lighting needs directional control and shielding from glare outdoors, just as it does indoors. The upcoming Y2K computer problem reminds us that sometimes the obvious goes neglected.
As computers dazzle us, so do the city lights visible beneath high-flying TV news helicopters. They seem harmless, until we realize that individual lights can't be seen from aloft unless they beam light upward. The irony of this wasted coal-fired electricity escapes us even if the day's top story concerns our air pollution.
Myths about outdoor lighting drive the spread of unplanned lighting. One such myth is that very bright, glaring lights improve our vision and provide for our safety. Concerns about a need to "balance security concerns" with light spillage control measures are unwarranted. The goal is better lighting through reduced glare and moderation of intensity. Better vision and security are the payoffs. Your security is never enhanced by sending glare into your eyes or into the night sky.
Fully shielded, downward directed, moderate intensity lighting enhances vision and safety. Glaring, misdirected, high intensity lighting diminishes vision and safety. It can clutter our nightscape, creating the visual equivalent of dueling boom-boxes. But it does more to compromise our vision.
Animals have better low-light vision than us, yet we can often read by the full moon's light. Lighting at new gas stations is typically 100 footcandles, 5,000 times brighter than full moonlight. Our eyes cannot adjust to this flood of light and retain good vision into nearby shadows, which become blind spots.
Just like a camera preventing over-exposure, our eye's pupils close down in response to bright light in our field of view. Pedestrians become silhouettes against backgrounds lighted as brightly as prison yards.
After exposure to ultra-bright lights, regaining vision in lower lighted areas takes time. For older drivers, seconds stretch into minutes, and a sizeable stretch of roadway. The Illuminating Engineering Society recommends 20 to 30, not 100 footcandles for pumping gas. As outdoor lighting marketers claim, brighter lights do create greater store "profile." But they do not create better vision.
Indiana utility Cinergy PSI distributed a brochure called "Be Aware, Think About Glare." It states: "Neighbors may be bothered by light spillage from your property or business. Improperly designed lighting may also diminish a driver's night vision."
Requiring proper commercial lighting is the single greatest step toward solving light pollution, but not the only one. Street lighting should likewise be fully shielded and of moderate intensity. The lights along I-65 just north of the Ohio River are fully shielded, greatly reducing driving glare -- a good idea everywhere.
The Indiana Council on Outdoor Lighting Education provides information for public officials, the media, and the public. A web site at http://home.att.net/~icole provides our recommendations for lighting ordinances, and ordinances adopted in numerous communities around the country.
An opportunity awaits Jefferson County and other communities to reduce costs, enhance safety, improve quality of life, and reduce air pollution. Few problems have such winning solutions. It makes no sense to ignore that opportunity.
Kevin Fleming
Chairman, Indiana Council on Outdoor Lighting Education