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[DSLF] Digest Number 1281
There are 4 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. MH vs. HPS
From: Steve Pauley <spauley@cox-internet...>
2. Re: MH vs. HPS
From: "Bryant Buchanan" <bbuchan@utica...>
3. Environment and Community Conference Presentation
From: Mike Hansen <mhansen@einhornresearch...>
4. Another Police Representative Says Lighting Doesn't Stop Crime
From: Mike Hansen <mhansen@einhornresearch...>
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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 08:57:44 -0700
From: Steve Pauley <spauley@cox-internet...>
Subject: MH vs. HPS
Fabio
Don't forget the very important light-health issues.
Despite the fact that the general public hates the color
of LPS - lousy CRI - , it's one wavelength of light
(589 nm) and is the most biologically & ecologically
friendly of all the outdoor street and flood lights.
Melatonin suppression occurs with blue emissions,
and those are found in MH, HPS, MV, fluorescent. We may
be coming to the day er.. night when, for public health concerns,
we must use LPS for residential street lighting.
At the very least, we need to fully shield the HID
glare bombs or use all fco HID street lights in residential
areas where blue light HID's trespass into bedrooms and
become a health concern - and that would be everywhere.
This invokes the "precautionary principle." The data
are not conclusive yet, but building fast.
There is plenty of research out there now linking
light at night (LAN) to melatonin suppression, increased
cancer cell growth rates with human breast cancers implanted
in rats exposed to LAN. Add that to the increased incidences of
breast and colorectal cancers in shift workers, and we
are looking at a significant public health risk re exposures
of humans to blue wavelength LAN.
The industry will fight these arguments just like the tobacco
companies fought back in the 70's and 80's. But I suspect
the industry will eventually have to deal with the accumulation of
data that tells the them it's time to act constructively, not fight. It
would be far better for the industry to lead the cause for better
health via better outdoor lighting than to constantly
resist accepting the building research by Blask and Brainard & their
colleagues.
Steve P
========================
> From: "Fabio Falchi" <falchifa@tin...>
>Subject: Re: MH vs. HPS
>
> So it is fundamental to keep the light in the scotopic band as
>low as possible. It should be time to introduce some forbidden band, like
>the ones in radioastronomy.The lumens of a LPS are far less pollutant for
>the dark adapted eye than the same lumens emitted by a MH lamp.
>Where it is mandatory to have a good color rendition it is not indispensable
>to have an almost contiuum spectrum lamp (like HPS or MH), from blue to red.
>We can have a three monochromatic lines lamp, one blue (less intense, due to
>the more damage produced in the environment by blue light), one green (away
>form the peak sensitivity of the scotopic eye and from Hbeta and OIII lines,
>of course) and one red. This type of lamp pollutes only three very small
>region of the spectrum and consequently it is easily filtered out.
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Message: 2
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 11:41:30 -0500
From: "Bryant Buchanan" <bbuchan@utica...>
Subject: Re: MH vs. HPS
I would also mention that just because long-wavelength light doesn't appear
to affect melatonin expression, we don't yet know what other effects it
might have. In some species, monochromatic long- or mid-long wavelength
light has negative biological effects. I would be reluctant to jump on a LPS
bandwagon simply because of the melatonin effect.
Clearly, more research is needed. It would seem most prudent to eliminate
all night lighting that is not absolutely needed (impirically based) for
safety and to aggressively shield all that that is necessary. Changing
spectral properties seems of lower priority to me than reducing the quantity
of artificial night lighting that we and other organisms are exposed to.
Bryant
=================================================================
Bryant W. Buchanan bbuchanan@utica...
Department of Biology Office (315) 792-3131
162 Gordon Science Center 0 FAX (315) 792-3831
1600 Burrstone Rd. @..@ o
Utica College (----)
Utica, NY 13502 ( )__( )
^^ ^^
=================================================================
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Pauley" <spauley@cox-internet...>
To: <DarkSky-list@yahoogroups...>
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 10:57 AM
Subject: [DSLF] MH vs. HPS
> Fabio
>
> Don't forget the very important light-health issues.
> Despite the fact that the general public hates the color
> of LPS - lousy CRI - , it's one wavelength of light
> (589 nm) and is the most biologically & ecologically
> friendly of all the outdoor street and flood lights.
>
> Melatonin suppression occurs with blue emissions,
> and those are found in MH, HPS, MV, fluorescent. We may
> be coming to the day er.. night when, for public health concerns,
> we must use LPS for residential street lighting.
>
> At the very least, we need to fully shield the HID
> glare bombs or use all fco HID street lights in residential
> areas where blue light HID's trespass into bedrooms and
> become a health concern - and that would be everywhere.
>
> This invokes the "precautionary principle." The data
> are not conclusive yet, but building fast.
> There is plenty of research out there now linking
> light at night (LAN) to melatonin suppression, increased
> cancer cell growth rates with human breast cancers implanted
> in rats exposed to LAN. Add that to the increased incidences of
> breast and colorectal cancers in shift workers, and we
> are looking at a significant public health risk re exposures
> of humans to blue wavelength LAN.
>
> The industry will fight these arguments just like the tobacco
> companies fought back in the 70's and 80's. But I suspect
> the industry will eventually have to deal with the accumulation of
> data that tells the them it's time to act constructively, not fight. It
> would be far better for the industry to lead the cause for better
> health via better outdoor lighting than to constantly
> resist accepting the building research by Blask and Brainard & their
> colleagues.
<SNIP>
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Message: 3
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 21:09:01 -0500
From: Mike Hansen <mhansen@einhornresearch...>
Subject: Environment and Community Conference Presentation
I just finished giving a presentation on Light Pollution (titled
Healing the Night) as part of the 14th North American Conference on
Environment and Community at Empire State College in Saratoga Springs,
NY.
I was included in a session on Urban Problems (along with presentations
on environmental architecture and sprawl). Only had about 20 minutes of
a 1.5 hour session to get my message across. Had an audience of about
25. Many very positive comments with many people admitting that they
were unaware of the environmental consequences of poor lighting. I will
be sending out specific information to several of the attendees. The
audience liked my 35w HPS FCO streetlight prop that my local city
electrician wired up with a plug and loaned me (though it is a bit
bulky to carry under one's arm for any distance).
The audience consisted of very well educated adults (all concerned with
some aspect of the environment from environmental justice to
philosophy). Most of the participants are from colleges or universities
(two of who commented on how difficult it was to convince their campus
people that crimes against persons wouldn't go up if lighting were kept
low).
Next week I get to do a much beefed up version for a high school
audience (astronomy class and club) in Massachusetts.
Mike Hansen
2561 Massachusetts Ave. #1
Cambridge, MA 02140-1020
(617)661-6520
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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Message: 4
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2004 06:14:20 -0500
From: Mike Hansen <mhansen@einhornresearch...>
Subject: Another Police Representative Says Lighting Doesn't Stop Crime
In Washington, Iowa where it has been proposed that many streetlights
be turned off as a cost saving measure, the usual concerns about safety
came up.
In the latest report, a Captain from the local police department
supports turning out the lights, saying that there are many other
things that have a greater impact on crime.
A councilman actually went and looked at an area without lights and
commented that he thought "people were jumping to conclusions about how
dark it's going to be."
Full details are at: http://tinyurl.com/yr4cg
Mike Hansen
2561 Massachusetts Ave. #1
Cambridge, MA 02140-1020
(617)661-6520
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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