Our Vanishing Night

Earth at Night -NASA image
(click on image to enlarge)

As much as 25% of  electricity consumption (by far the #1 source of air pollution ) in the United States goes towards lighting.  We could save conservatively $2 BILLION a year and millions of tons of coal with more efficient use.  A typical 100-Watt incandescent bulb could consume 750 pounds of coal and emit 2000 pounds of CO2 in one year - just one bulb!  Choose energy efficient, downward directed, full cut-off, lighting fixtures in key locations only where needed.   And please don't aim them UP.  These simple fixes would cut wasted energy consumption and production of noxious greenhouse gases, plus SAVE MONEY without compromising safety and security. You wouldn't let your water faucet run all night...what about waste light pouring into the night sky?  We all pay eventually in the form of higher taxes and product costs.   Power demand from electrical grids in several states are being taxed to the limits while the utility companies profit from our waste.   The Canadian government is imploring its citizens to cut back on their energy use to help meet Kyoto protocols... why not the U.S.?  (Example: the monitor of this server is turned off when not in use and the CPU energy star compliant)

The Culprits:
Poorly designed streetlighting -
The next time you see the late evening news, notice the "tower camera" views TV stations often use.   Then ask two simple questions: Why is the night sky orange instead of black?  And, why are so many lights visible from the top of the building tower and from miles away?  Generally, if you can see a fixture's light source from more than a hundred yards away, it's a bad fixture.   Decades old designs such as cobra-style and, worst of all, acorn-style fixtures scatter a large amount of their energy needlessly to the  sky.  Responsible cities are adopting more effective full cut-off designs as they change their fixtures- note the examples below.  Call your town officials and insist that they do so as well - please.  Hey, it's your money.

All-night service stations -
Many gas stations are installing 30, 40, even 50 or more brilliant halogen fixtures spraying light that can be seen from a mile away!  This happens in spite of canopies that are designed to contain the light.  The guise is safety but the real purpose is advertising, like moths attracted to a candle.  A station may have a low profile sign that is regulated by ordinance, yet the rational for the law ends up defeated by the excessive light.   Then the station across the street has to be brighter, then the next....  before long your town is screaming with glare and clutter!   Brighter is not better.

Hotels, motels-
Don't we go to a hotel to sleep at night??  So why do many hotel chains shine brilliant flood lights up on their buildings at night?  Effective, shielded security lights are fine - advertising floods, please... no more.  Heavy blinds often fail to make rooms dark enough for a good night's sleep.  This practice defies common sense.

"Insecurity" lights-
Do you have a neighbor that leaves that annoying yard light on all night (or do you)?  Use motion detector lights.... they work and are off 99% of the time.   Reminder - the vast majority of home break-ins occur during the day when you're away at work.  Light trespass is a law that can be enforced so take note neighbor!  Purchase a "glare-buster" to do the job of yard illumination correctly.  Be kind and don't shine.

Building decor-
Lighting a brick wall and landscaping simply for architectural vanity is a sin.  Please stop this practice.  We know the building is pretty.... we can see it all day long.

Car dealerships and empty shopping center parking lots-
Even parked in a lot, cars pollute.  Dealerships super-illuminate with true-color rendering halogens in the hopes you'll spot that dream car at 2am.... you and maybe one other lone night owl.   This goes for parking lots in general.  Money and fuel can be saved just turning off lights that do nothing more than shine on empty pavement most of the night.  Again, using excessive or needless lights burns fossil fuels and generates air pollution.

Fast food restaurants-
Some are bright enough to keep your fries warm in the parking lot!  Burger and fries at 1am... well, that's another problem...

Flags-
Flags lit by brilliant flood lights are even more unpatriotic.  Think of all the fossil fuel across this great country that is being consumed for this purpose yet most of the energy (95%) misses the mark.  Subdue or even turn off the lights (there's a law that needs changing).  Better yet, take down the flag at night if possible!   P.S. Some of those flags are neglected, tattered rags having been left out for months on end in all sorts of foul weather because of sheer laziness.

These are just some of the many examples (gosh, did we mention sports facilities and billboards??).  Our purpose here is to make people aware that light pollution is a serious concern and that something can be done to correct it.   We need your help, too!  Let business and government officials know by contacting them.

Daylight Saving Time - shifting time was implemented in the 1970's to help conserve the need for energy use by extending sunlight into the latter part of our day during the warm summer months.  The rational for this practice seems to have been lost on today's society.

---

An EMU Physics and Astronomy Light Pollution Educational Program
funded by the
Michigan Space Grant Consortium

The Michigan Space Grant Consortium  graciously funded our public outreach program designed to inform and inspire students and local governments to take action regarding poor lighting in their communities.   Each program was given on site at schools at no cost to the host institution, consisting of a semi-formal lecture (30- 45 minutes typical) that invited audience participation while defining causes and indentifying sources.  Participants experienced first-hand the astonishing amount of effort needed to generate and distribute electricity for lighting, and to appreciate how human activity has changed our world.   The overall goal of this program has motivated participants to become part of a solution to a problem that affects almost everyone, and how each individual can truly make a difference in making a better environment for us all.  Contact Mr. Norbert Vance regarding a presentation for your school.

Ford Rd. in Canton, Michigan .......These "pretty" acorn-type fixtures that are supposed to enhance the scene actually produce a cold, excess glare, make seeing cars difficult while driving, lose 70% of their light to the sky where it's not needed, are placed too close together, and "charm" a discount department store, strip malls, chain theater complex, and a supermarket.  Fixtures like these continue to appear in many area towns such as Ann Arbor, Belleville, Oxford, Plymouth, Wayne, and unfortunately for Sherzer Observatory, Ypsilanti, further eroding our skies, too. This is a victorian attempt to mark downtown, particularly absurd in places that are essentially strip mall zones and trunk road business corridors.   Check with your municipality to make certain plans are not under way to install them - most citizens don't realize this until the lights are being put in.  Poorly designed utility lighting is high on the list of wasted tax dollars at work.

If you are a member of a DDA (downtown development authority), please do not consider these lights. Or if you live in a town that is considering installing them, please implore your town government not to. They only look victorian in the daytime....at night they have no similarity to the faint, gas-light glow of long ago. The unshielded glare dazzles the eye, akin to a bare bulb without a lampshade. They are being sold as "pedestrian-oriented" yet are primarily intended to light busy roadways.  Driving down a street illuminated with "modern" victorian-style lamps often requires squinting!   Tucson, AZ and, locally, Brighton Township, MI have tackled the problem of waste lighting by effectively eliminating such fixtures through legislation.   The city of Los Angeles, CA has been replacing the bulk of its street lights with effective full cut-off, shielded fixtures and is very pleased with the results.  Check out the lights on Eureka Rd. at Vining, south of Detroit Metropolitan Airport's runways for examples of excellent fixtures (wonder why they're properly shielded near the runway approaches?).  Ask your community leaders to follow the lead set by these cities.  In contrast, the city of Las Vegas, NV has actually boasted in promotional spots that it spends a million dollars a day in lighting!  Yikes!!

Car/Truck plant in Wayne, Michigan ......Here, dozens of unshielded globe-type lights bathe a car-loading area - combined with towers of high-intensity metal-halide parking lot floodlights and advertisement displays, they produce a glow that can be seen from more than 10 miles away - one of the worst light-pollution sites in Wayne county, Michigan!!  Combined with a sports megaplex to the west, western Wayne county is awash with stray light much of the night.  While regulations abound on fume and waste discharge at factories,  waste lighting and its environmental impact is obviously not a concern here....

Late-night stores and fast food restaurants, car dealerships, atheletic fields, and all-night gas stations have become primary contributors to excess light. Both of the sites pictured directly affect an area up to half a mile away! The restaurant and surrounding area are saturated with glaring light, a problem easily fixed with a reduction in the number of fixtures and the lights aimed down, not sideways. The number of lights at the gas station, if fitted with full cut-off shields, could easily be cut in half!  One service station in Canton has more than 55 high-intensity lights on its small property, another nearby has 44....insanity!!  This is less a safety issue and more a marketing ploy...bright lights get your attention. Well, they certainly got ours...help!!  Several new station canopies in the region have smart, full-recessed can lights in their canopies and in limited numbers.  Hooray... they've got the right idea!

How bad is the level of light-pollution in your area?  What are the faintest stars you can see from your location (can you even see stars!)?  Jump to the  "Little Dipper Star Count"  page and try it!  See what surprising results you find!!

Though there are more fixtures than neccessary to do the job of illumination, at least these are shielded and aimed down at the ground. The posts are stylish and utilitarian as well. The fact that some effort was given to shielding the lights and, therefore, providing energy savings is truly becoming an exception these days. Cheap energy begets waste. Thank you for the concern, Allen Park.

When the Sky is Too Bright....

At a darksky site, the approach of clouds would appear as an invisible silhouette blotting out the stars beyond.  In this 8-second exposure taken in suburban Detroit skies, way too much light reaches the bottoms of approaching clouds thousands of feet above - a clear waste of energy.  This not only detracts from a natural dark sky but confuses birds and other animals who have evolved over eons to depend on the cover of darkness for their very survival!  As we increasingly become a 24-hour society, even we humans are taxing our "body clock", one that requires nighttime.  This is taking a toll which shows in everything from sleep deprivation to the environment.  Destruction of  the night's darkness is a byproduct of this change.  Therefore, each and every outdoor fixture should be placed with much more care and concern than they are currently given.  Downward shielding and careful, conservative placement would go a long ways towards reducing the visual equivalent of a blaring stereo.  You can do your part in protecting the night sky by keeping this in mind, and by reminding others, too.
Please practice good lighting habits....

Remember...."some of us like to be kept in the dark!"