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.

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“Better and more environmentally friendly lighting will help to make Southampton a safer and greener place. This is a huge investment in the city and let’s not forget all the jobs this should generate for our local economy.” – Councillor Matthew Dean, Executive Member for Environment

A 25 year government funded contract, part of the private finance initiative (PFI), to replace and maintain 250,000 total streetlights in Southampton, Hampshire and West Sussex has been awarded to Tay Valley Lighting. The £225 million government funded contract hopes to upgrade each of the aforementioned cities’ lights with the latest energy efficient equipment within 5 years and maintain them for the remaining 20 years.

“Research shows that better street lighting helps improve road safety, reducing road traffic accidents, as well as reducing crime and the fear of crime and creating safer communities.”

Aside from boosting these cities’ economies by creating new and continued jobs, the private finance initiative (PFI) hopes to accomplish the following:

“* ‘White’ light source used across the City, providing excellent colour rendering and improved visibility at night.
* Reduced light pollution and nuisance glare at night.
* Innovation, up to date energy efficient lighting and electronic control gear equipment, including LED lighting.
* An Intelligent Remote Monitoring Management System (RMMS), enabling central control for monitoring lamp fault detection, and adjustment of lighting levels.
* Variable lighting levels, appropriate to night time activities and the environment.”

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“A comprehensive strategy, executed at scale, could reduce the nation’s annual non-transportation end-use energy consumption from 36.9 quadrillion BTUs in 2008 to 30.8 quadrillion BTUs in 2020 — saving 9.1 quadrillion BTUs relative to a business-as-usual baseline. (That baseline projects that 39.9 quadrillion BTUs of energy would be consumed in 2020.) This reduction in energy consumption could yield savings worth more than $1.2 trillion (at a rate of $130 billion annually). Such savings are far greater than the $520 billion that would be needed for upfront investment in efficiency measures. The reduction in energy use would also result in the abatement of 1.1 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions annually, the equivalent of taking the entire U.S. fleet of passenger vehicles and light trucks off the roads.” – McKinsey & Company Report

The United States of America wastes $130,000,000,000 dollars a year on energy. Whether from inefficient light bulbs, unshielded lighting or vampire electronics, energy sources need improvement. Significant improvement. Whilst options exist to improve energy efficiency, the public seems to act warily toward the initial high price tag of energy efficient products. It’s the same principle as buying groceries for your family from the grocery store: buy bulk whenever possible. Sure, buying a bunch of items in bulk rings up quite a hefty price tag, but consider how buying bulk decreases the amount of time and energy spent on obtaining goods from the grocery and how it increases the amount of food resources available to your family at home. One could theoretically shop at the grocery store on a daily basis, which is fine if the store is within walking distance, but driving to the grocery store everyday impacts not only your wallet but the environment itself. Back to energy efficient products, their initial expensive price tag suggests that by buying this particular product, you, the consumer, will actually pay for the item itself in a few years from the amount of electricity you saved.

So what small items can I procure to help save me money? High quality CCFL lightbulbs or LED lighting. Pairing a high quality light bulb with the proper shielding, by directing the light downwards, allows an even lower wattage bulb to emit the same amount of lumins than without the shielding. By directing the light downwards, consumers and businesses alike, can begin to waste less energy and eradicate light pollution. Therefore, outdoor lighting solutions by virtue of efficiency, can help change American’s wasteful energy habit.

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That’s right.

Not California. Not New York. Not even Oregon lead the nation towards greener jobs. Idaho as well as Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming have stalwartly lead the United States towards more greener sources of employment. The Pew Research Center found data between 1998 – 2007 and concluded Idaho’s job in the “wind, solar, biofuel and energy efficiency industries grew at a rate of 126.1 percent, while overall Idaho jobs grew by 13.8 percent.” In 2007, 4,500 green jobs existed in a rapidly growing ‘green economy.’ The Pew Research Center defines green jobs as “engineers, plumbers, administrative assistants, construction workers, machine setters, marketing consultants, teachers, and many others” as well as asserting a ‘green economy’ “generates jobs, businesses and investments while expanding clean energy production, increasing energy efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, waste and pollution, and conserving water and other natural resources.”

How has Idaho secured new green employment opportunities? According to Phyllis Cuttino, Idaho exhibits more wind potential than both Oregon and Washington combined. Furthermore Businesses such as Nordic Windpower, Hawaiian company Hoku Scientific (manufacturers silicon for Solar Panels) and Micron technology’s LED  branch have experienced substantial growth in employment and demand probably due to its “low cost of living, low cost of doing business, availability of labor and favorable local government support.” Good show Idaho.

A new organic light emitting diode (OLED) lamp has an efficiency of 70 lumens per watt. – Photo KOREAITTIMES
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As part a government funded project, The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) has developed more efficient organic light emitting diode (OLED) lamp. ETRI claims its OLED lamps utilizes its electrical consumption four times more efficiently than regular incandescent electric lamps. ETRI’s white OLED lamp boasts 70 lumens per watt as opposed to regular incandescent electric lamps 15 lumens per watt. And for the icing on the cake, ETRI’s OLED lamp contains absolutely no traces of mercury. Typical incandescent electric lamps have a 8,000 hour lifespan compared to ETRI’s white OLED 10,000 hour lifespan.

Many have deemed OLED as the wave of the future for lighting needs. It’s environmentally safer, more cost-efficient and value-efficient over typical incandescent electric lamps as well as regular LED lights. Stay tuned for more updates on OLED lighting.

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As one of the world’s leading emitters of green house gas, China proposed yesterday a commitment to target and tax polluting businesses. Zhang Lijun, head of the Environmental Protection Ministry, revealed:

“Collecting environmental taxes from (polluting) companies is one of the directions of China’s tax system reform; several departments are currently working together to develop research on this issue, and when the conditions are right we will launch an environmental taxation system for polluting companies.”

Given its enormous population and growing economic presence, China’s energy demand has exploded. China remains as the top global producer and consumer of coal energy. Shockingly enough, the World Bank in 2006 identified 16 out of 20 Chinese cities as some of the world’s most polluted cities. Furthermore, recent studies have concluded 2 out of 5 cities exhibit ‘polluted’ to ‘hazardous’ air levels. 

Zhang Lijun also revealed the Chinese government’s environmental package 210 billion yuan (31 billion dollars) a part of China’s 4 trillion dollar stimulus package. Whilst the Chinese government has set aside a significant amount of money towards the environment, Zhang Lijun still expresses concern for the environment:

“Surface water pollution is still serious reducing the quality of coastal waters, while many cities’ suffer from light pollution and air pollution. Additionally, rural environmental problems are increasing.”

June 4th, 2009 Special IDA Bulletin
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“The symposium will provide the latest information regarding the known effects of light at night on circadian disruption and cancer, and may offer valuable information to city managers and planning officials who are considering updating their outdoor lighting plans. Please urge your city officials to attend this event or obtain copies of the proceedings.”

The International Dark-sky Association(IDA) proudly supports the New York Academy of Sciences and the Mushett Family Foundation Symposium on June 19th, 2009 regarding Circadian Disruption. Circadian Disruption is a disruption within living entities that operate roughly on a 24 hour biochemical, physiological and behavioral process cycle. In other words, Circadian Disruption is an alteration to the ‘internal human clock.’ With the advent of LED lighting as an alternative to compact fluorescent light bulbs, the Symposium will examine inquires and concerns regarding its fledgling technology. For instance, many LEDs manufactored today exhibit correlated colour temperature (CCT) well over 5500k. Natural Moonlight exhibits 4100k whereas highly pressured sodium lights i.e. common streetlight exhibits 2100k. As to wether LED’s CCT effects living entities, information regarding it remains unknown. Other topics will include the relationship between day and night as well as cancer studies from past and future. Registration begins promptly at 7:30 am and concludes around 7:30 – 8:00 pm.

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What exactly is LED lighting and why should I express interest in LED lighting? On a rudimentary level, LED lighting is known as Solid State Lighting (SSL). LED lighting utilizes modules rather than ‘lamps’ found in traditional lighting technologies. Traditional lighting lamps burn out between 1,000 to 30,000 hours of use. LED lighting, from some manufacturers, purport up to a life of 60,000 hours and beyond. Given LEDs relatively new emergence to the market, the question of LED’s lifetime operation / overall reliability has arisen. A company may release a new LED to the market but because of its new emergence into the market, it would become obsolete by the time it comes out.

Lets consider how an LED light works. An LED light contains several more pieces of equipment compared to ordinary light bulbs. For instance “ballast or driver, electrical connections, and the fixture housing itself (including lenses)” account for the operation of an LED light; all of these have a chance for failure, rendering the light inoperable if one should fail. Furthermore an LED’s light ‘dies’ differently than an ordinary light bulb. Rather than dying out completely, an LED will always regress in its lumin or its light output. In other words, it slowly dims to the point of no longer emitting light. The United States’ Department of Energy has conducted a study on LED on its lumen output and has come to a better understanding of when a death of an LED light occurs. They concluded once its lumen output has declined by 30 percent from its initial output, the human eye can detect decreases in light levels more than this percentage difference. The DOE expresses this value as “L70″, meaning “when lumen output has fallen to 70 percent of initial output.”

The bottom line: LED lighting is a new spectacular frontier for the lighting industry. Whilst it has its positives, it certainly has its negatives. Procuring quality LED lights equates to more efficient LED lighting and reduced deterioration of its lumin.

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According to the Seattle based company Vu1 (view one), they feel as if they have a shot in the increasingly demanding market of energy-efficient lighting technologies. Vu1 believes the market remains ‘up for grabs,’ due to expensive LED lighting solutions and shortcomings regarding compact fluorescent lighting qualities i.e. manufacturers sacrificing quality for quantity. Vu1 offers the unique advantage of utilizing a technology called “electron stimulated luminescence” E.S.L. Vu1 defines E.S.L as the following:

E.S.L creates light without requiring a filament, plasma, coils or mercury vapor. Electrons are sprayed uniformly over a broad area inside the bulb, which is coated with a phosphor mixture. This causes the entire surface of the bulb to glow and create light.

Vu1’s plans on introducing a fully dimmable, mercury-free, instant-on bulb for recessed ceiling fixtures by the end of this year; “boasting 6,000 hours – or six times the lifespan of an incandescent – and have a price tag similar to high-end C.F.L. reflector bulbs: about $18 to $22.” According to the United States Department of Energy more than 500 million recessed down lights exist in residential buildings alone, and more than 20 million are sold each year.

Spring is just around the corner and with it, the need to brighten up ones wardrobe and home. As things become green once again and the flowers begin to bloom, there are far more reasons to spend more time outdoors. One of the greatest ways to utilize the beauty of this season around ones home is to install landscape lighting. By doing so, the excitement of the season is not limited merely to the hours of daylight. Spring into action and make your garden and outdoor areas more people friendly!

Starry Night Lights has recently expanded its product line to include Volt Landscape Lighting, the ideal night-sky friendly lighting fixtures, perfect for any outdoor lighting need.Volt fixtures come in brass or aluminum in a wide variety of finishes and work wonderfully for both lighting needs and decorative purpose. The items are designed to be sturdy, but yet are not overly large or bulky. Together with their appearance and environmentally conscious design, these fixtures should be strongly considered when creating ones outdoor paradise.

Selecting the lighting of ones home can be daunting, but it should not be. It should be an exciting time, full of promise for a fresher and more pleasant living experience. Luckily, even if one decides in a later period to change or update ones outdoor fixtures, Volt fixtures are in-stock for immediate shipment (24-48 hours). Checkout our landscape lighting tips for a few things to keep in mind as you expand your living spaces into the outdoors.

Starry Night Lights is dedicated to providing individuals with the necessary tools to improve their lives and homes in an environmentally fashion, by providing customers with the newest lighting innovations in environmentally mindful designs. Through taking small steps toward a better environmental future, the possibilities for larger and grander steps will become available. Put your trust in Starry Night Lights and be kind to both the environment and your wallet! Checkout these landscape lighting tips for a few ideas to keep in mind as you expand your living space.