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[DSLF] Digest Number 518
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There are 16 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Take Action!
From: "ctstarwchr" <ctstarwchr@aol...>
2. RE: 'Plasma-induction' lamps
From: "Fitzpatrick, Eric (J.)" <efitzpat@visteon...>
3. "FCO--The Way to Go" blurb
From: saros61@aol...
4. Re: RE: 'Plasma-induction' lamps
From: ctstarwchr@aol...
5. Re: Lighting and Crime - A personal observation
From: Steve Davis <w2sgd@juno...>
6. Re: Lighting and Crime - A personal observation
From: Steve Davis <w2sgd@juno...>
7. Re: cities with little or no streetlighting
From: Steve Davis <w2sgd@juno...>
8. RE: Glare Causes Accident
From: "John Nusbaum" <jnusbaum@bellatlantic...>
9. Fwd: Make some noise about terrible lighting!
From: "kg6je" <s_fortune@hotmail...>
10. How much Energy and dollars consumed by outdoor lighting
From: Barry Johnson <johnsonb@ivwnet...>
11. Embedded LED Roadway Lighting
From: "doesper" <DaveOesper@aol...>
12. Re: Lighting and Crime - A personal observation
From: Fred Ruszala <u11595@snet...>
13. Re: How much Energy and dollars consumed by outdoor lighting
From: ctstarwchr@aol...
14. RE: How much Energy and dollars consumed by outdoor light ing
From: "Peel, Bill D." <BPeel@Lithonia...>
15. Fwd: Tactics
From: "ctstarwchr" <ctstarwchr@aol...>
16. Re: LP Hits Front Page Again Today!
From: "Fitzpatrick, Eric (J.)" <efitzpat@visteon...>
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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 17:56:29 -0000
From: "ctstarwchr" <ctstarwchr@aol...>
Subject: Take Action!
Greetings:
Here is some excellent advice on how to TAKE ACTION and greatly
improve your chances of being very effective when doing so!
http://www.nwf.org/action/howtos/index.html
Today, John Nusbaum of VOLT provided us with some fabulous
information with the Noise, Light Pollution, and Visual Pollution
2001 Annual Report released by Fairfax County Environmental Quality
Advisory Council.
<http://www.co.fairfax.va.us/gov/eqac/pdf_files/chapter_7.pdf>
Printing this document and sending it to your Senators and
Representatives in Washington urging them to move on establishing
national reform for obtrusive outdoor lighting may make a huge mark.
When considering the billions of dollars wasted by the US alone this
truly becomes a national security issue! Not only does it affect our
quality of life or the ability to see the stars, more importantly, it
also affects our health and our safety. Health and safety will be
the issues that your representatives will be most concerned with.
My town is receiving a copy of this report today along with a letter
addressed to the Mayor, Town Manager, Director of Planning, and the
Zoning Administrator. Do the same thing in your town, too!
Thanks so much John! You are a wonderful inspiration to everyone and
keep up the great work!
Clear skies and good seeing,
Keep looking up!
Cliff Haas
Chair Light Pollution Education
Chair Solar Observing Committee
Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford
http://members.aol.com/copernicanview
Light Pollution Awareness Website
http://members.aol.com/ctstarwchr
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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 13:35:38 -0500
From: "Fitzpatrick, Eric (J.)" <efitzpat@visteon...>
Subject: RE: 'Plasma-induction' lamps
To be honest, this scares me. With less energy consumption and cost, there
will be less of an incentive to use moderate levels with decent fixtures.
Just look at MV installations compared to HPS or MH. MV uses more
electricity, and on average, all the MV installations I have seen have been
substantially less bright than MH and HPS installations. How often do you
see a grossly over lit installation using MV? Once or twice I have seen
incandescent streetlights, and they were less bright than your average MV
installation. In a nutshell, I feel these more efficient lights are going
to be an excuse to ratchet.
'Plasma-induction' lamps sound real good in here:
http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=News&story_id=32342
It says they last up to 20 years, provide twice the light & use 40 per cent
less energy...
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Message: 3
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 14:18:10 EST
From: saros61@aol...
Subject: "FCO--The Way to Go" blurb
To all:
Just saw a blurb on bottom of p. 116 in the Jan. '02 issue of Sky & Telescope with Cliff's FCO quote mentioned. They liked it!
Congrats for another mention, Cliff!
Charles Fulco
Member, I.D.A.
Port Chester (NY) Parks Commission
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Message: 4
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 15:36:34 EST
From: ctstarwchr@aol...
Subject: Re: RE: 'Plasma-induction' lamps
In a message dated 12/11/01 1:38:43 PM Eastern Standard Time,
efitzpat@visteon... writes:
> To be honest, this scares me.
There's no need to fear (yet) Eric. Efficacy of plasma induction lights is
only around 70 lumens per watt and they have been available for several
years. That taps in on the brightness scale about half way between mercury
vapor and metal halide. They have been discussed on this Forum and the old
DRKSKY listserv a few times over the years.
Phillips QL series and GE Eudora are a couple of examples. Phillips released
a 160 watt version last year which is somewhat of a concern over its previous
85 and 50 watt series. The great benefit of induction lighting is a much
longer lifetime with less lumen depreciation. Less maintenance means less
cost over 20 years. They are about 3x as efficient as incandescent and half
as efficient as HPS but their color rendering index is better.
Now if you start talking about the new highly efficient bright white sulfur
lamps I will start getting scared about the ever increasing radiance. ;-)
Cheers,
Cliff Haas, MIES
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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Message: 5
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 15:03:39 -0500
From: Steve Davis <w2sgd@juno...>
Subject: Re: Lighting and Crime - A personal observation
John Nusbaum wrote:
< ...the vandalism seems to literally end where the street
lights end.>
That should be a clear message. Vandals need lights too and
are scared of the dark. Same genus and species - Homo sapiens.
How's your memory? Kids hang out and play "Hide and Go Seek"
under the streetlight and use the shadows.
< I have often wondered what would happen if one of my neighbors or the
homeowners association would start a campaign to get street lights in
our section of the neighborhood. I would not be shocked if they were
working on it right now. Would it serve as an invitation for the
criminals to operate in our area too?>
That happened in a town near me. Now everybody is experiencing
vandalism. A close friend said he really wished he knew what
I knew about LP before it was a done deal (and a 14-year contact).
In another development, a resident/amateur astronomer headed off
streetlighting through his Neighborhood Watch!
- sd
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Message: 6
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 15:03:39 -0500
From: Steve Davis <w2sgd@juno...>
Subject: Re: Lighting and Crime - A personal observation
John Nusbaum wrote:
< ...the vandalism seems to literally end where the street
lights end.>
That should be a clear message. Vandals need lights too and
are scared of the dark. Same genus and species - Homo sapiens.
How's your memory? Kids hang out and play "Hide and Go Seek"
under the streetlight and use the shadows.
< I have often wondered what would happen if one of my neighbors or the
homeowners association would start a campaign to get street lights in
our section of the neighborhood. I would not be shocked if they were
working on it right now. Would it serve as an invitation for the
criminals to operate in our area too?>
That happened in a town near me. Now everybody is experiencing
vandalism. A close friend said he really wished he knew what
I knew about LP before it was a done deal (and a 14-year contact).
In another development, a resident/amateur astronomer headed off
streetlighting through his Neighborhood Watch!
- sd
________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 7
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 18:48:28 -0500
From: Steve Davis <w2sgd@juno...>
Subject: Re: cities with little or no streetlighting
Patric wrote:
<Just for grins I downloaded their ordinance at
http://www.niskayuna.org/town_code1.htm>
I didn't know it was on-line. See Section 220-48.8 if interested.
Search the whole document for "glare" to see other LP tidbits.
<Their strength seems to be in placing the burden of the city lighting
"expertise" on a qualified, recognized body -- IESNA -- which takes the
liability off of their engineering and legal departments.>
I disagree. They recognize different situations require different
lighting
and reference the IES Handbook - two very strong points. Why should
the town reinvent the wheel when expert help is available?
<The one big weakness I found was that the code mandates public places be
continuously lit (regardless of occupancy) and lit with Metal Halide.>
If you think that is bad, you should see Saratoga Springs! They spec
out acorns and poles as done on an order form - the only legal light
for downtown.
I reviewed some 55 town codes on www.generalcode.com
Check it out; your town and state may have something listed.
- Steve
________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 8
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 19:11:54 -0500
From: "John Nusbaum" <jnusbaum@bellatlantic...>
Subject: RE: Glare Causes Accident
> Mike Hanson said:
> A letter appearing in yesterday's (12/9/01) Boston Globe lists
> glare as the cause of a motor vehicle accident!
Mike,
I would absolutely love to get a copy of that news article. (I could
not find it online.)
We all believe that this must be happening but not getting reported.
Can you mail a copy of the article to me? Or scan it and email a copy
if that is easier. I'd be happy to post it up on the Virginia Outdoor
Lighting Taskforce website (www.volt.org) so everyone can see it.
Thanks for catching this one!
John Nusbaum
2124 Maleady Dr
Herndon VA 20170
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Message: 9
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 02:22:16 -0000
From: "kg6je" <s_fortune@hotmail...>
Subject: Fwd: Make some noise about terrible lighting!
--- In SouthernCaliforniaObservers@y....., "kg6je" <s_fortune@h.....>
wrote:
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to share some personal minor victories over light
pollution. The latest one at the New Esplanade Mall in Oxnard. About
3 months ago, after tearing down the old Esplanade mall in Oxnard
(Which, by the way had some horrible lighting that I was glad to see
go)they had rebuilt some new stores, and started installing the new,
parking lot/perimiter lighting. I saw right away that they were not
hip to light pollution or did not care. They had installed mainly
simi-cutoff style, which if not overly lit, are not really that bad.
The worst of it was that underneath most every one of these fixtures,
they had installed sideways pointing floodlights. When they had
finally turned these energy wasters on, I was really horrified. The
simi-cutoff lamps were very much overpowered, and someone was even
ignorant enough to aim some of the floodlights towards the freeway.
Well, something had to be done. The glare towards the freeway was
a genuine traffic hazard, I started by calling the CHP and told them
about the blinding glare. When I was checking out the CHP website, I
even found a page where by inputing my case number, I was able to
check out in real-time that an officer was investigating the report.
I then went to the Cal-Trans site and registered a complant with them
and referred it to the CHP case number. When a few days went by with
out any feedback, I tried the next angle that I could think of. I
knew that the City of Oxnard requests cutoff style light fixtures for
parking lots, and the floodlights did not make that criteria. I
complained to the planning department and explained the situation.
They said they would see what could be done. Well, about this time I
was contacted by a Cal-Trans investigator, who played phone-tag with
me for about two weeks. I finally left him a detailed enough message,
that I believe he knew what the situation was.
Well, to finally get to my minor victory in this situation,
last week I saw that they had installed shielding on at least the
overly bright simi-cutoff fixtures facing the freeway. Which action
did the trick to get results? I have no clue, but my best guess is
that it was all of this working in concert. Total effort on my part-
a handfull of phonecalls and emails. Rating of results compared to
desired effect- about 50%, because the floodlights are still there.
Results of my minor effort compaired to not taking any action-Much
better than 0% for 0% effort. Conclusion, be a squeeky-wheel and take
a bite out of light pollution!!! Steve Fortune
Ventura,Calif.
--- End forwarded message ---
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Message: 10
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 00:56:37 -0500
From: Barry Johnson <johnsonb@ivwnet...>
Subject: How much Energy and dollars consumed by outdoor lighting
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories published an
article in 1996 which stated
"Indoor lighting accounts for about 25 percent
of the electrical energy
consumed in the United States each year. It
has been estimated that this
consumption, which costs about $30 billion,
could be cut in half if existing
lighting systems were to be replaced with
advanced energy-efficient
alternatives. "
What percentage of electrical energy is consumed
by outdoor lighting in the U.S.?
Barry Johnson
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Message: 11
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 07:37:42 -0000
From: "doesper" <DaveOesper@aol...>
Subject: Embedded LED Roadway Lighting
There is a short news note in the September-October 2001 issue of "TR
News" (the "TR" stands for "Transportation Research") about the
nation's first embedded roadway lighting system. Here it is in its
entirety:
============================
SAVING TURTLES FROM TRAFFIC
An embedded roadway lighting system--the first of its kind--along a
three-quarter-mile stretch of state Route A1A in Boca Raton, Florida,
will keep motorists, pedestrians, and sea turtles safer.
Boca Raton's Spanish River Park, a popular beach destination for area
residents, is also a hatching ground for sea turtles. The new low-
profile lighting reduces the attraction of traditional roadway
lighting to hatching sea turtles, which often are drawn away from the
ocean by the glow and killed on the roadway by passing vehicles.
The lighting system employs reflective pavement markers with light-
emitting diodes embedded in the blacktop, so that the roadway lines
are illuminated without overhead lighting, decreasing the lure for
the turtles.
For further information contact Jorge Maspons, HNTB (e-mail
jmaspons@hntb...).
============================
I wrote Mr. Maspons and I will share any useful information I get
from him with you. I think embedded LED roadway lighting is a great
idea and I'd like to see more of it as the sea turtles are not the
only beneficiaries! :-)
Clear, dark, and starry skies,
David Oesper
Ames, Iowa
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Message: 12
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 06:06:54 -0500
From: Fred Ruszala <u11595@snet...>
Subject: Re: Lighting and Crime - A personal observation
The personal observation of yours is also essentially mine regarding light
and crime. I live in a suburban town in CT of about 10,000 people in the
center of town. From time to time drug traffic picks up in the center.
ALWAYS THEY CAN BE FOUND UNDER OR NEAR STREET LIGHTS. They prefer well
lighted areas to conduct their business. They are afraid of the dark because
things come out of the dark - cops, competitors, dogs etc. So it is safer
for them to be in well lit areas. These kids, most are young, are not very
bright for some reason. When you talk to them it is like half their brain is
not there or not functioning. For all their effort they don't seem to make
much money at this drug business from their appearance and the junk cars that
they drive. I think because they grew up in an urban area with intense and
garish night lighting this is their normal environment; dark night is a
foreign environment to them. Also I wonder if their night vision is poor
because of drugs use and poor nutrition.
Fred Ruszala
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Message: 13
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 02:36:03 EST
From: ctstarwchr@aol...
Subject: Re: How much Energy and dollars consumed by outdoor lighting
In a message dated 12/12/01 1:01:22 AM Eastern Standard Time,
johnsonb@ivwnet... writes:
> What percentage of electrical energy is consumed
> by outdoor lighting in the U.S.?
Good question! More and more every passing year by the satellite maps and
the indications seen in the night sky. The IDA estimates established many
years ago were conservative and state *over a billion dollars* is wasted to
the sky alone, but that does not consider ground based light trespass and
overlighting conditions. With those factors one could conservatively
multiply that waste factor by 6 at least.
Maybe NEMA or the US Department of Energy would possibly have an estimated
number? "Lighting accounts for 20 percent of all electricity sold in the
United States." -- US Senator Joseph Lieberman wrote in a letter to me on
5-22-2001
Clear skies,
Cliff Haas
http://members.aol.com/ctstarwchr
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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Message: 14
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 11:14:50 -0500
From: "Peel, Bill D." <BPeel@Lithonia...>
Subject: RE: How much Energy and dollars consumed by outdoor light ing
This is an interesting question.
Based on some rough data we have on the US lighting market, I would estimate
that less than 20% of all lighting energy is consumed by outdoor lighting
products. This estimate is based on the assumption that interior and
exterior lighting operate approximately the same number of hours per day,
yet this is not the case. Much commercial/industrial/warehouse interior
lighting operates continuously, making the outdoor percentage of electrical
energy consumed even less. From this I conclude that outdoor lighting
represents something less than 4%(20% of 20%)of our nation's electrical
consumption.
Bill Peel
Lithonia Lighting
-----Original Message-----
From: ctstarwchr@aol... [mailto:ctstarwchr@aol...]
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2001 2:36 AM
In a message dated 12/12/01 1:01:22 AM Eastern Standard Time,
johnsonb@ivwnet... writes:
> What percentage of electrical energy is consumed
> by outdoor lighting in the U.S.?
Good question! More and more every passing year by the satellite maps and
the indications seen in the night sky. The IDA estimates established many
years ago were conservative and state *over a billion dollars* is wasted to
the sky alone, but that does not consider ground based light trespass and
overlighting conditions. With those factors one could conservatively
multiply that waste factor by 6 at least.
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Message: 15
Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2001 22:00:27 -0000
From: "ctstarwchr" <ctstarwchr@aol...>
Subject: Fwd: Tactics
A message forwarded to Dan Caton from Francis Parnell. Good advice!
--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2001 18:42:42 +0000
From: Francis Parnell
Subject: Tactics
Dan,
Nice talking with you on the phone today. Just wanted to share some
ideas that worked here in Darlington when confronted with
the "experts" from CP&L.
When the utility talks about the need for "vertical illumination",
remind the council/commission that's glare, and that's what we have
now. If they say that FCO fixtures aren't safe, name 8 or 10 cities
that have regs and ask the "expert" since FCO's work great in these
cities, what makes our city so special that they won't work here?
Please pass this along to the NC IDA members.
Francis Parnell IDA
Darlington, SC
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Message: 16
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 12:40:01 -0500
From: "Fitzpatrick, Eric (J.)" <efitzpat@visteon...>
Subject: Re: LP Hits Front Page Again Today!
Great article Cliff!
In a message dated Sun, 9 Dec 2001 2:14:01 PM Eastern Standard Time,
ctstarwchr@aol... writes:
>
> Another full front page article has appeared in one
> of Connecticut's large newspapers today!
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