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More Products Needed to Rein in Light Pollution

By CHRISTINA HALFPENNY

Christina Halfpenny is Executive Director and CEO of the DesignLights Consortium.

Since gaining traction in a serious way about 15 years ago, LEDs have become the uncontested heroes of energy efficiency in commercial and industrial lighting. Now dominating the market, LEDs use at least 75 percent less energy than legacy products and, according to the US Department of Energy, could spur energy savings of 569 terawatt hours by 2035, avoiding carbon emissions from fossil fuel plants as well as conserving precious renewable resources and battery capacity.

We’ve witnessed another change in the last decade or so, too – one also related to lighting, but with a less positive result. Accelerating at a rate of about 10 percent per year, sky glow and other aspects of light pollution have robbed more than a third of Earth’s population – including 60 percent of Europeans and nearly 80 percent of North Americans – of their ability to see the Milky Way, while fueling an array of harm to natural ecosystems around the world.

As awareness about issues associated with artificial light at night grows, the lighting industry as a whole has an opportunity to course correct. Now is the time to recharge efforts to educate lighting decision-makers about which products are right for which settings and to increase the number of product lines that include controls and feature lower light outputs and lower color temperatures (CCT).

To the latter point, lighting manufacturers have an opportunity to not just capitalize on growing interest in light pollution mitigating products, but to take action that actually sparks demand for luminaires that are better for human wellbeing, as well as for wildlife and the environment. And, we don’t need to compromise on safety.

Growing interest in reducing the adverse impacts of outdoor lighting was evident at LightFair 2023 in May, where Karen Trevino, director of the National Park Service’s Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division, presented a keynote titled “Chasing Darkness into the Light: Preserving Night Skies in National Parks.” Noting how light from park facilities and sky glow of local towns and cities have diminished the night sky, Trevino explained the NPS’ efforts to preserve “natural lightscapes” to minimize the unintended impact outdoor lighting can have on wildlife, visitor enjoyment, health and safety, cultural resources and the wilderness character of parks.

At the same meeting, DesignLights Consortium (DLC) Senior Lighting Scientist Leora Radetsky joined Tony Esposito of Lighting Research Solutions for “Blinded by the Light (Pollution): How to Select Non-White Outdoor Lighting to Minimize Sky Glow.” Their session touched on the adverse impacts of artificial light at night on wildlife ranging from turtle hatchlings and nocturnal insects to migratory birds and bats before diving into a range of solutions to address the absence of industry standards for non-white (i.e. amber) light sources often cited as better for sensitive wildlife areas.

It's worth pointing out the enthusiasm some lighting designers and specifiers conveyed during that session for low CCT products associated with less environmental impact, voicing their desire for lighting manufacturers to put more emphasis on developing and marketing such products. Another comment heard from the lighting design community was that cities and towns need more education and guidance about light pollution and what they can do about it.

In fact, it’s the public sector that is beginning to create more demand for outdoor lighting products that minimize sky glow, light trespass and other elements of light pollution. Hundreds of North American counties and municipalities have passed some type of light pollution law or ordinance, and 19 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have adopted laws to mitigate light pollution.

In some cases, public sector agencies are seeking to protect sensitive ecosystems, especially for listed endangered species. In others, municipalities and their constituents are concerned with quality-of-life issues affected by light trespass into homes and neighborhoods from overly bright or improperly shielded streetlights and other luminaires.

Simultaneously, many communities across the country have adopted climate goals – another circumstance that dovetails with the need for more outdoor lighting products that mitigate wasted light. Like heat and air conditioning that escape from inefficient buildings, light pollution represents wasted energy. The need to pursue solutions for continued decreases in energy consumption, as well as mitigating impacts on biodiversity and implications for human sleep cycles, is compelling with outdoor lighting.

The DLC launched its LUNA Technical Requirements to address these issues, and we have been steadily increasing the number of products on our LUNA Qualified Products List (QPL). LUNA is a specification that includes light pollution mitigation features, while meeting the DLC’s time-tested energy efficient requirements for high performance LEDs. The LUNA program provides steps for decision makers to consider in lighting policies and applications, and the specification enables qualified products to be controlled with timers, motion detectors and other technology that allows them to dim or turn off when not needed – preventatives to inadvertent all-night lighting.

For lighting decision-makers looking to reach carbon goals and save energy dollars, the LUNA QPL also provides assurance that listed products qualify for efficiency rebates.

There are currently 50 products on our LUNA QPL and hundreds in the queue, and the DLC is eager to expand the list, providing cities, towns, states and private sector entities with more choices for energy efficient luminaires that minimize light pollution, are controllable, provide appropriate visibility for people and limit negative impacts to the environment.

We encourage lighting manufacturers to seize this moment and take a proactive stance by expanding product lines designed to mitigate light pollution. To paraphrase Albert Einstein, we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used to create them.■

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