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Readers' letter: Shinning a light on wasted electricity |
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Famed comet discoverer David Levy eloquently introduced Star readers to a subject long overdue for coverage. His November 22nd Parade magazine article "Our Wasted Light" illuminates us on misguided ideas about nighttime illumination. Levy says many outdoor light fixtures are poorly designed. Misdirected light creates annoying spillage into neighborhoods and into the sky, wasting coal-produced electricity. Worse, glare 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 leave neighbors questioning our intelligence. Yet the 40% of electrically-generated light from typical fixtures leaking uselessly off-property and into the sky, continues. The cost to Indiana's ratepayers has been estimated at $45 million annually. Outdoor lighting's growing usage races ahead of insight into the simple idea that lighting needs directional control and shielding from glare outdoors, just as it does indoors. The upcoming year 2000 computer problems remind us that sometimes the obvious gets overlooked. Computers dazzle. Similarly, dazzling city lights visible beneath high-flying TV news helicopters 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. I-465's lights near Indianapolis' airport are shielded from upward misdirection to avoid pilot confusion, but they also greatly reduce driving glare. Why not do that everywhere? Fully shielded, downward directed, moderate intensity lighting provides convenience and safety. But glaring, misdirected, extremely bright lighting diminishes vision and annoys. It sometimes clutters our nightscape -- the visual equivalent of dueling boom-boxes. Evolution gave some animals better low-light vision than us. But we can often read by the full moon's light. Lighting of 100 or more footcandles found at new gas stations is 5,000 times brighter than full moonlight. Our eyes cannot adjust to this flood of light and retain good vision into nearby shadows. This creates blind spots. Just like a camera preventing over-exposure, our eyes adjust to the brightest light in our field of view. Pedestrians, cyclists, and even cars become silhouettes against a highly illuminated background. After exposure to ultra-bright lights, regaining vision into 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 footcandles for safely pumping gas. Moderate, shielded lighting provides the most safety and security. 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." Everyday, wasteful, dangerous lighting is installed, adding to the industrial look of a hazy, near-starless sky. Marion County's nightscape demonstrates the importance of properly constructed ordinances and planning staff oversight. Absent voluntary good lighting practice, missing, incomplete, or unenforced regulations leave prospects for efficient, restrained lighting up to law enforcement officers better at fighting crime. The newly-formed Indiana Council on Outdoor Lighting Education, ICOLE, advocates wiser lighting practices and provides information for public officials, the media, and the public. A web site at http://home.cwix.com/~kfleming@mci2000.com/icole.html provides information. Several Indiana newspapers have given light pollution front page status. It's a topic of growing interest for planners, lighting engineers, utilities, safety advocates, environmentalist, and people who recognize too much of a good thing when they see it. An opportunity awaits 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
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© 1999 Indianapolis Newspapers Inc. AP materials © 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. |
