PHOTO CREDIT : CHINAPICTURES.ORG
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Celebrating the 60th anniversary of People’s Republic of China, China has updated the lighting fixtures of Tiananmen Square, located in the nation’s captial, Beijing. Specific free-from-light-pollution renovations in Tiananmen Square include: its red walls, Memorial, the flag pole, Golden River Bridge, and its elevated View terrace. The installment of high efficiency lights has not only reduced overall power consumption from 210.2KW to 100KW, but has also reduced the pollution of these light fixtures by 20 tons of carbon dioxide emission and 0.8 tons of sulfur dioxide emission. Tiananmen Square isn’t the only landmark that has undergone renovation. Zhengyangmen, another cultural landmark in the southern portion of Tiananmen Square, has installed LED lights free of mercury, to not only protect the historical building but to cut its energy consumption by an estimated 20%.

Monuments, monoliths, mounds, statues, walls, etc. from different cultures exist in our world. Some of these mentioned erected structures may symbolize commemoration, an era in time or art. These structures hold significant or insignificant value to numerous cultures from around the globe. The point being, that whilst a culture may possess a cultural landmark and no doubt feel the urge to ostensibly signify their affinity to it, it should be within reason to nature. Meaning, erecting and directing unnecessary amounts of unshielded light onto a structure to signify the culture’s affinity for it, day and night. A solution: consider the boon of shielded lighting. Shielded lighting can accentuate an object similiar to unshielded lighting without the consequence of sky glow or light pollution and requires less energy to do so compared to an unshielded light fixture. It’s a win-win situation.