Light pollution- Impact on energy usage-Light trespass-Clutter-Sky glow

Light pollution, also known as photopollution or luminous pollution, is excess or obtrusive light created mainly by humans. Among other effects, and like any other form of pollution, it disrupts ecosystems, can cause adverse health effects, obscures the stars for city dwellers, and interferes with astronomical observatories. Light pollution can be construed to fall into two main branches: annoying light that intrudes on an otherwise natural or low light setting and excessive light, generally indoors, that leads to worker discomfort and adverse health effects. Since the early 1980s, a global dark-sky movement has emerged, with concerned people campaigning to reduce the amount of light pollution.

Light pollution is a side effect of industrial civilization. Its sources include building exterior and interior lighting, advertising, commercial properties, offices, factories, streetlights, and illuminated sporting venues. It is most severe in highly industrialized, densely populated areas of North America, Europe, and Japan and in major cities in the Middle East and North Africa like Cairo, but even relatively small amounts of light can be noticed and create problems. Like other forms of pollution, such as air, water and noise pollution, light pollution causes damage to the environment.

With recent advances in private spaceflight, the prospect of space-based orbiting billboards appearing in the near future has provoked concern that such objects may become another form of light pollution. With this in mind, the United States Federal Aviation Administration sought permission, in May 2005, to enforce a law prohibiting "obtrusive" advertising in earth orbit. Similar intentions are yet to be expressed by authorities in most other countries.

Impact on energy usage

Energy conservation advocates contend that light pollution must be addressed by changing the habits of society, so that lighting is used more efficiently, with less waste and less creation of unwanted or unneeded illumination. The case against light pollution is strengthened by a range of studies on health effects, suggesting that excess light may induce loss in visual acuity, hypertension, headaches and increased incidence of carcinoma[citation needed]. Several industry groups also recognize light pollution as an important issue. For example, the Institution of Lighting Engineers in the United Kingdom provides its members information about light pollution, the problems it causes, and how to reduce its impact.

Since not everyone is irritated by the same lighting sources, it is common for one person's light "pollution" to be light that is desirable for another. One example of this is found in advertising, when an advertiser wishes for particular lights to be bright and visible, even though others find them annoying. Other types of light pollution are more certain. For instance, light that accidentally crosses a property boundary and annoys a neighbor is generally wasted and pollutive light.

Disputes are still common when deciding appropriate action, and differences in opinion over what light is considered reasonable, and who should be responsible, mean that negotiation must sometimes take place between parties. Where objective measurement is desired, light levels can be quantified by field measurement or mathematical modeling, with results typically displayed as an isophote map or light contour map. Authorities have also taken a variety of measures for dealing with light pollution, depending on the interests, beliefs and understandings of the society involved. Measures range from doing nothing at all, to implementing strict laws and regulations about how lights may be installed and used.

Types

Light pollution is a broad term that refers to multiple problems, all of which are caused by inefficient, unappealing, or (arguably) unnecessary use of artificial light. Specific categories of light pollution include light trespass, over-illumination, glare, clutter, and sky glow. A single offending light source often falls into more than one of these categories.

Light trespass

Light trespass occurs when unwanted light enters one's property, for instance, by shining over a neighbor's fence. A common light trespass problem occurs when a strong light enters the window of one's home from outside, causing problems such as sleep deprivation or the blocking of an evening view.

A number of cities in the U.S. have developed standards for outdoor lighting to protect the rights of their citizens against light trespass. To assist them, the International Dark-Sky Association has developed a set of model lighting ordinances. The Dark-Sky Association was started to reduce the light going up into the sky which reduces visibility of stars, see sky glow below. This is any light which is emitted more than 90 degrees above nadir. By limiting light at this 90 degree mark they have also reduced the light output in the 80-90 degree range which creates most of the light trespass issues. U.S. federal agencies may also enforce standards and process complaints within their areas of jursidiction. For instance, in the case of light trespass by white strobe lighting from communication towers in excess of FAA minimum lighting requirements the FCC maintains a database of Antenna Structure Registration information which citizens may use to identify offending structures and provides a mechanism for processing consumer inquiries and complaints. The US Green Building Council (USGBC) has also incorporated into their environmentally friendly building standard known as LEED, a credit for reducing the amount of light trespass and sky glow.

Light trespass can be reduced by selecting light fixtures which limit the amount of light emitted more than 80 degrees above the nadir. The IESNA definitions include full cutoff (10%), cutoff (10%), and semi-cutoff (20%). (These definitions also include limits on light emitted above 90 degrees to reduce sky glow.)

Ordinances have also been written to limit the amount of light at the property line and beyond, but may be unrealistic or vague. Realistic limits and clarity in measurement need to be provided. Stating "zero light at the property line" is too vague. Absolute zero means that even if a light fixture is a mile away and the light source is visible, it is in violation, and would require hoods to be placed over every light fixture. What is realistic may vary according to whether an area is residential or industrial, urban, suburban or rural. The credit offered by LEED provides limits at the property line and 10-15 feet beyond it. At the 10-15 foot distance LEED limits light to 0.01 fc. (For comparison, a full moon provides 0.03 fc and a moonless night 0.004 fc). This is a very difficult limit to comply with while providing even light on a parking lot and driveway. How is the light to be measured? Horizontal measurements are common for interior and exterior lighting calculations. However, for light trespass the concern is how much light shines into a person's eye. Measurements may be made at approximate eye level (5' high) of the vertical light level facing into the site, or aimed at the brightest light source. Exceptions might be allowed where drives enter the street. This would permit street lights at the drive entrance to make cars more visible as they pull into traffic. Limiting pole height is another common ordinance tactic to reduce light trespass. This becomes counterproductive when the ordinance also has max:min ratios for safety concerns. Reducing pole height will increase dark spots on a site. Increasing the number of poles is only viable to a certain point due to the width of the aisles & parking. Otherwise poles would need to be placed in the parking spaces and aisles to maintain even lighting.

Over-illumination


Office building illuminated by high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps shining upward, of which much light goes into the sky and neighboring apartment blocks and causes light pollution. Location: Nijmegen, the Netherlands
Office building illuminated by high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps shining upward, of which much light goes into the sky and neighboring apartment blocks and causes light pollution. Location: Nijmegen, the Netherlands

Over-illumination is the excessive use of light. Specifically within the United States, over-illumination is responsible for approximately two million barrels of oil per day in energy wasted. This is based upon U.S. consumption of equivalent of 50 million barrels per day (7,900,000 m³/d) of petroleum.It is further noted in the same U.S. Department of Energy source that over 30 percent of all energy is consumed by commercial, industrial and residential sectors. Energy audits of existing buildings demonstrate that the lighting component of residential, commercial and industrial uses consumes about 20 to 40 percent of those land uses, variable with region and land use. (Residential use lighting consumes only 10 to 30 percent of the energy bill while commercial buildings major use is lighting.) Thus lighting energy accounts for about four or five million barrels of oil (equivalent) per day. Again energy audit data demonstrates that about 30 to 60 percent of energy consumed in lighting is unneeded or gratuitous.

An alternative calculation starts with the fact that commercial building lighting consumes in excess of 81.68 terawatts (1999 data) of electricity. according to the U.S. DOE. Thus commercial lighting alone consumes about four to five million barrels per day (equivalent) of petroleum, in line with the alternate rationale above to estimate U.S. lighting energy consumption.

Over-illumination stems from several factors:

* Not using timers, occupancy sensors or other controls to extinguish lighting when not needed
* Improper design, especially of workplace spaces, by specifying higher levels of light than needed for a given task
* Incorrect choice of fixtures or light bulbs, which do not direct light into areas as needed
* Improper selection of hardware to utilize more energy than needed to accomplish the lighting task
* Incomplete training of building managers and occupants to use lighting systems efficiently
* Inadequate lighting maintenance resulting in increased stray light and energy costs
* "Daylight lighting" can be required by citizens to reduce crime or by shop owners to attract customers, so over-illumination can be a design choice, not a fault. In both cases target achievement is questionable.
* Substitution of old mercury lamps with more efficient sodium or metal halide lamps using the same electrical power
* Indirect lighting techniques, such as lighting a vertical wall to bouce photons on the ground.

Most of these issues can be readily corrected with available, inexpensive technology; however, there is considerable inertia in the field of lighting design and with landlord/tenant practices that create barriers to rapid correction of these matters. Most importantly public awareness would need to improve for industrialized countries to realize the large payoff in reducing over-illumination

Glare


Glare is often the result of excessive contrast between bright and dark areas in the field of view. For example, glare can be associated with directly viewing the filament of an unshielded or badly shielded light. Light shining into the eyes of pedestrians and drivers can obscure night vision for up to an hour after exposure. Caused by high contrast between light and dark areas, glare can also make it difficult for the human eye to adjust to the differences in brightness. Glare is particularly an issue in road safety, as bright and/or badly shielded lights around roads may partially blind drivers or pedestrians unexpectedly, and contribute to accidents.

Glare can also result in reduced contrast, due to light scattering in the eye by excessive brightness, or to reflection of light from dark areas in the field of vision, with luminance similar to the background luminance. This kind of glare is a particular instance of disability glare, called veiling glare.

Glare can be categorized into different types. One such classification is described in a book by Bob Mizon, coordinator for the British Astronomical Association's Campaign for Dark Skies. According to this classification:

* Blinding Glare describes effects such as that caused by staring into the Sun. It is completely blinding and leaves temporary or permanent vision deficiencies.
* Disability Glare describes effects such as being blinded by an oncoming cars lights, or light scattering in fog or in the eye reduces contrast, as well as reflections from print and other dark areas that render them bright, with significant reduction in sight capabilities.
* Discomfort Glare does not typically cause a dangerous situation in itself, and is annoying and irritating at best. It can potentially cause fatigue if experienced over extended periods.

Clutter

Clutter refers to excessive groupings of lights. Groupings of lights may generate confusion, distract from obstacles (including those that they may be intended to illuminate), and potentially cause accidents. Clutter is particularly noticeable on roads where the street lights are badly designed, or where brightly lit advertising surrounds the roadways. Depending on the motives of the person or organization who installed the lights, their placement and design may even be intended to distract drivers, and can contribute to accidents. Clutter may also present a hazard in the aviation environment if aviation safety lighting must compete for pilot attention with non-relevant lighting. For instance, runway lighting may be confused with an array of suburban commercial lighting and aircraft collision avoidance lights may be confused with ground lights.

Sky glow


Sky glow refers to the "glow" effect that can be seen over populated areas. It is the combination of all light reflected from what it has illuminated escaping up into the sky and from all of the badly directed light in that area that also escapes into the sky, being scattered (redirected) by the atmosphere back toward the ground. This scattering is very strongly related to the wavelength of the light when the air is very clear (with very little aerosols). Rayleigh scattering dominates in such clear air, making the sky appear blue in the daytime. When there is significant aerosol (typical of most modern polluted conditions), the scattered light has less dependence on wavelength, making a whiter daytime sky. Because of this Rayleigh effect, and because of the eye's increased sensitivity to white or blue-rich light sources when adapted to very low light levels (see Purkinje effect), white or blue-rich light contributes significantly more to sky-glow than an equal amount of yellow light. Sky glow is of particular irritation to astronomers, because it reduces contrast in the night sky to the extent where it may even become impossible to see any but the brightest stars.

The Bortle Dark-Sky Scale, originally published in Sky & Telescope magazine, is sometimes used to quantify sky glow and general sky clarity. The Bortle Scale rates the darkness of the sky and the visibility of night sky phenomena such as the gegenschein and the zodiacal band, easily masked by sky glow, on a scale of one to nine, providing a detailed description of each step on the scale.

Light is particularly problematic for amateur astronomers, whose ability to observe the night sky from their property is likely to be inhibited by any stray light from nearby. Most major optical astronomical observatories are surrounded by zones of strictly-enforced restrictions on light emissions.

"Direct" sky glow can be reduced by selecting lighting fixtures which limit the amount of light emitted more than 90 degrees above the nadir. The IESNA definitions include full cutoff (0%), cutoff (2.5%), and semi-cutoff (5%). "Indirect" skyglow produced by reflections from vertical and horizontal surfaces is harder to manage; the only effective method for preventing it is by minimizing over-illumination.