It is not unusual to hear politicians or environmentalists speak of pollution, or the depletion of resources. Yet, there is one form of pollution which has not received much attention, this is light pollution. This does not mean that there are no organizations which have taken up the fight against light pollution, there are several, one of which is the organization ‘Need-less’ coming out of the United Kingdom. Need-less seeks to explain the impact of light pollution to everyday individuals, with a specific focus on those who are not astronomers and who may have never noticed sky glow, the orange hue that blankets the night sky.

According to the Need-less website (http://www.need-less.org.uk/), all individuals should care about light pollution, even those who do not spend much time looking into the night sky, this is because of the huge waste of energy which is caused by light pollution. This is because light pollution is the result of poorly lit outdoor lighting, which is directed aimlessly into the night sky and creates sky glow. Thus, light pollution is not only a harmful force on the night sky it is equally negative on resources, both natural and financial. Light pollution costs tax payers billions of dollars each year, also the energy needed to generate light pollution is a tremendous waste of valuable and depletable resources.

The Need-less organization gives three tips for individuals, in order to assist them in reducing light pollution:

-Keep outdoor lighting shining down towards the ground, instead of up into the night sky
-Use motion sensors wherever possible, in order to save energy
-Be wise when choosing outdoor light, light only where and when, light is needed

In addition to advising individuals on proper ways and forms of outdoor lighting, Need-less also deserves credit for its very creative way of drawing the attention of individuals who are unaware of the impact of light pollution. By having lighting which is “down to earth” Need-less creatively demonstrates the correct way to light outdoor areas. To check out the influential and creative efforts of Need-less, watch this animation that the organization has created about light pollution. It is certainly, animation to ‘light up for’: http://www.need-less.org.uk/images/need-less-animation.swf

Find out more about Need-less at their webpage: http://www.need-less.org.uk/

At the head of the fight against light pollution, Starry Night Lights!

In it’s November 2008 issue, the folks at National Geographic focus on the growing worldwide problem of light pollution. Noting that “Most city skies have become virtually empty of stars”, the article discusses the human penchant for altering our environment to fit our needs. Treated as a monster to be feared, we have relentlessly beaten back the night which is as much a part of our world as the day. We have reduced from thousands to a small handful, the number of stars visible in the night sky. And, we’ve done it in a hurry. 200 years ago, London was the largest city in the world with about 1,000,000 residents. Lit, as it was by candles, it would have been virtually invisible at night from just a few miles away. Now, even the smallest of towns and villages are shrouded by domes of excess light from scores of improper lights. Those in or near larger cities may never even have seen the night sky in its natural, star-filled state. This is as unfortunate as it is wasteful. Recent estimates by the International Dark Sky Association put the annual cost of light pollution to the U.S. at over $10 billion dollars. This is a huge sum to be spent on destroying the environment. Fortunately, light pollution is the simplest environmental problem to solve. Simply turning off lights or replacing improperly designed outdoor lighting with full cutoff (down light) fixtures would dramatically reduce the effects and cost of light pollution. This is one environmental fix that actually pays for itself immediately in reduced utility bills. Checkout the rest of the site and see how we can help you to save on your outdoor lighting costs….

I don’t need to tell you how expensive lighting can be. Anybody who receives a monthly utility bill is well aware of the rising costs associated with it. Outdoor lighting is often a sizable portion of the bill. Would you be interested in learning how to cut the costs associated with your outdoor lights? Significantly? Say, as much as 99%? I thought that would grab your attention. Read on for some simple steps you can take to immediately start slashing your outdoor lighting costs. Note: **A number of these ideas are applicable to interior lighting as well… allowing for further savings.

The first thing to understand is how money can be wasted on outdoor lighting. This will give you a better picture of how to plug the gaps and close the costs. Many fixtures provide very little control over the light they produce. These fixtures typically are constructed with a significant amount of glass. This allows light to shine through in many (often unnecessary) directions. For example, there is little benefit in allowing light to shine up into the night sky. This results in light pollution and a significant degradation of views of the night sky. By choosing a full cutoff outdoor light fixtures that aims light down on the ground (where we walk and drive), we can reduce the amount of light generated (and energy consumed) by as much as 50%. How? Well, since we just switched to full cutoff/down light only fixtures, we are now putting all the light that we produce on the ground. As half of the light used to be going into the neighbors yard or the night sky, we now have much more light on the ground for the same amount of electricity consumed, we now have the opportunity to reduce the wattage of the light bulbs used by up to 50%. This is a biggie, that’ll have an immediate payoff on all subsequent utility bills.

Our next idea takes advantage of the wonderful versatility of the human eye. Our eyes are quite capable of seeing in low light levels. As such, many homeowners and business owners find that their current lighting levels are excessive. One only need drive to a nearby shopping area or gas station to see examples of this kind of excess. For home lighting, do you really need to use 100 watt light bulbs? I’ll bet if you switched to 75 watts, you’d find that you could still see quite well. Whatever your current light level is, try the next lower level. In many cases, visibility is not hampered by slightly less ground illumination. This claim is bolstered by the reduced glare from your earlier switch to full cutoff / down light only exterior fixtures.

The next steps, take advantage of some of the newer technologies that have recently hit the market. Compact fluorescent and LED light bulbs use considerably less energy than their older incandescent counterparts. In many cases, you can save as much as 75% of electric consumption with no drop in lumen levels. The cost of LED light bulbs has dropped significantly in recent years and is expected to drop further as product volumes increase. LED’s, because of their directional nature, are an ideal for use in recessed lights and downlight wall sconces. LED’s have an added benefit of long life, so you can pretty much install them and forget about them. Many are rated for 50,000 to 100,000 hours of use, so, we’re talking years, if not decades before they’re expected to fail. Compact fluorescent light bulbs or CF bulbs also use far less energy than traditional incandescent light bulbs. The also have a significantly longer life than incandescents (though nowhere near as long as LED’s).

The final idea is actually my favorite. Install motion sensors to control the operation of your home lights. Think about this for a moment. A photocell (used on many homes and businesses), turns lights on as light levels drop (at dusk) and then turns them off again when light levels rise (at dawn). Dusk to dawn operation means that your lights will be turned on an average of 12 hours each day. Considering that there is nobody outside of your house for most of this time, doesn’t this seem just a bit excessive and wasteful? Well, it is. Wouldn’t it be great if you could keep your lights off most of the time and simply have them turn on automatically whenever somebody was outside? Well, you can. The technology isn’t exactly new, but then again, it isn’t exactly the most prevelant either. Motion Sensors can do just this. Motion sensors use a miniscule amount of energy to scan for activity outside your home of business. When activity is detected, the lights are turned simply turned on. So, you go from almost zero electric consumption to full operation in the blink of an eye. Now, as visitors approach or leave your home, all your lights are on… directing light where needed. What a concept, huh? Motion sensors also address another issue commonly associated with outdoor lighting, security. Many people feel that they need to keep their outdoor lights on all not long in order to keep intruders away. While there has never been any significant studies done to validate this assumption, many people assume that outdoor lights will (somehow) make them safer. We won’t go into any attempt to debunk this commonly held belief. Interested readers can Dr. Barry Clark’s call for Mandatory Outdoor Lighting Limits. Anyway, just remember that most crime happens during the day, when the brightest light of them all, our Sun is fully illuminated. So, if the Sun can’t prevent crime, neither can your lights. So, can we use lighting to protect ourselves? Certainly. And, here is where motion sensors can lend yet another helping hand. Outdoor lights that are on from dusk to dawn are ignored by your neighbors. They simply pull down the curtains to keep intrusive lighting out. Because of this, you’re basically preventing your neighbors from seeing any activity taking place outside your home. On the other hand, if you had motion sensors installed, and your light suddently turned on at 2 o’clock in the morning, anyone in the area who was awake would have the ability to notice this. This would have the effect of sending a shock through a would intruders system. They’d have no way of knowing who had just noticed their arrival. They’d have to assume, that their presence had been (or would soon be) detected. As such, if lighting is to be used as a security measure, motion sensor controlled lighting would be the most effective means to employ it.

So, there you have it. A number of ways to save money on your utility bills. A number of ways to reduce electric consumption (and associated green house gas emissions). A number of ways to preserve the night sky and night time environment. Wouldn’t it be nice if other forms of pollution were as easy to address as light pollution? Wouldn’t it be nice if addressing other problems actually were so cost effective? Many, unfortunately are not. Addressing wasteful outdoor lighting is pretty painless, pretty inexpensive, and actually pays for itself in reduced electric bills in a fairly short time.

Many night sky activists cringe when they hear the term ’security lighting’. This typically means a big, bright, glaring fixture that’s on from dusk to dawn. These bad boys are often so powerful that they can dominate and destroy the night time looks of entire neighbors. Installed for ‘piece of mind’, these fixtures are typically some of the most environmentally unfriendly fixtures out there. Fortunately, security lighting does not need to negatively impact the environment or your pocketbook.

Checkout the NyteWatch from Stonco Lighting.  TheNyteWatch has nice, low profile architectural lines so you can pretty much install it anywhere. But, what really sets the NyteWatch apart from other ’security lights’ is the way it performs. First, note the flat glas panels on each luminaire. These give the NyteWatch glare free, full cutoff performance. Full cutoff fixtures direct all the light they produce down onto the ground beneath them, preventing light from shining across property lines or up into the night sky. Up lighting of the night sky is typically known as light pollution, a growning (and expensive) worldwide problem. Light pollution is the reason that 3 out of 4 Americans can no longer see the Milky Way from their homes. Light pollution also costs us a fortune. Recent estimates put the number in the neighborhood of $10,000,000,000 (ten billion) annually for the US. Secondly, the NyteWatch makes use of advanced motion sensor technology to keep the lights off most of the time. Motion controlled lights only come on when there is activity in the area. So, when you arrive home from a night out, have company come over, or have un-invited visitors, motion sensors detect this activity and immediately switch the lights on. This allows you to have all the visibility you need, whenever you need it. The lights are otherwise off the remainder of the night which in many cases means most of the time. This can lead to substantial savings in your utility bills. The average homeowner wastes hundreds of dollars each year on ourdoor lighting that is illuminated more than necessary.

Checkout the accompanying image of the Stonco NyteWatch in action. Note the direction that the light is travelling. No light shines glaringly into your eyes. No light shines wastefully up into the night sky. Light is directed only where it is needed, onto the driveway below where it is installed. This is where you’ll be walking, and really the only place that your outdoor lights should be shining. Proper outdoor lighting allows us to move about safely and securely at night. Improper outdoor lighting blinds us with glare and robs our pocket books by shining in places it doesn’t belong.

Readers of this blog have heard us rail against light pollution countless times. The resource and financial waste is associated with this global problem are monumental. What positive things could we do with all those wasted energy resources? How about power a fleet of clean running electric vehicles?

I read an interesting article the other day entitled “Night Lights and Chevy Volts“. In it, author and night sky activist John Gilkison did a bit of number crunching.  What he came up with was the following. By simply replacing the inefficient cutoff lights currently in use (which shine a significant amount of light up into the night sky) with full cutoff lights (which shine no light up into the night), we could reduce the energy consumed by outdoor lighting by approximately 30%. Additional savings could be achieved by eliminating unnecessary light fixtures and reducing operating times of many others. This could push the us closer to a 50% energy savings. This amounts to an astounding 25-30 GWh/year (giga-watt hours). Using the new Chevy Volt as our baseline, we would need 2,600 KWh’s a year for 10,600 miles of electric powered driving. John’s calculations revealed that we could power almost 10 million electric cars for a year for a total of about 10 billion passenger miles! This is astounding. We could quickly make a large dent in our consumption of fossil fuels while also significantly reducing the amount of global warming gases emitted into the atmosphere. These are real and significant benefits. Benefits which are readily available to us. All it takes is the will to act.

Almost nothing is as dreary as dark or poorly lit room. There’s just something about a bright well lit room, which makes it inviting and comforting. Home lighting is a great way to make ones home more inviting. In fact, it is one of the cheaper ways to update your home and bring more character into your home, as well. There are various choices of home lighting, both indoor and outdoor. Luckily for you, Starry Night Lights, has many kinds of suitable home lighting, both indoor and outdoor. This is because Starry Night Lights, realizes how important it is to have a large selection of lighting, so that each individual can choose the lighting that best fits ones
individual taste. Lets go through some options, and find the best way to let the light in!

Indoor Lighting:

Wall Scones: Wall scones are an excellent way to light an area of ones home. They are decorative, practical and allow an individual to only light specific and desired areas. They come in various designs and in various finishes including; copper, aluminum, brass, ceramic and stainless steel.

Ceiling Mounted Lighting: Another excellent source of indoor lighting is ceiling mounted lighting. This form of lighting allows one to light an entire room with only one light fixture. Ceiling mounted lighting is also a nice way to tastefully light an area without over doing the amount light in a room. Also, one does not have to worry about this form of lighting ‘getting in the way’, as it is mounted on ones ceiling.

Pendant Lighting: An artistic and interesting way to light ones home, is through pendant lighting. Pendant lights come in many forms and colors, making them one of the most interesting forms of lighting. This form of lighting is also an excellent way to draw attention to a particular part of a room, or home. Don’t be shy to check into this form of dangling art.

Outdoor Lighting:

Starry Night Lights also has a large collection of energy efficient and night friendly, outdoor lighting fixtures.

Landscape Lighting: Outdoor lighting can sometimes be tough to decide on, but what is easy to decide on is the fact that you need lights which are night friendly and do not shine up into the night sky. It is best to choose lights that only light the areas which you feel need to be lit. Landscape lighting is one of the best choices, it allows you to light specific areas, while also having attractive fixtures. Starry Night Lights, also carries LED landscape lights, this way one can enjoy night friendly and energy efficient outdoor lighting fixtures.

Solar Powered Outdoor Lighting: Interested in being as environmentally friendly as possible try solar powered outdoor lighting. You will be guaranteed both energy efficiency, and environmentally friendly lighting.

Wall Mounted Exterior Lighting Fixtures: For those individuals who only care to light small portions of outdoor areas, wall mounted exterior lighting, is a great choice. These fixtures are guaranteed to produce no light pollution, they are attractive and still give a generous amount of light to the needed area.

Allow Starry Night Lights to serve you and be guaranteed both environmentally and night friendly lighting fixtures, designed to save energy and protect the environment.

The IDA or International Dark-Sky Association is calling for certain regulations to be put into place on all LED luminaire street lights, and has proposed for these changes to become part of the 2009 Energy Star standards. The regulations are designed to make luminaire street lights fully shielded and will affect all future LED street lights, if passed. These regulations are based on materials gathered by the US Department of Energy during workshops held all across the country. During these meetings IDA Technical Advisor, Pete Strasser, pushed the US Department of Energy (DOE) to make the appropriate steps in making fully shielded luminaire lights a priority.

The regulations say that with regard to outdoor street and public lighting, the “luminaire shall deliver 100% of total lumens within the 0°- 90° zone, with a maximum of 10% of total lumens delivered within the 80°- 90° zone (bilaterally symmetrical).” What this essentially means is that the way that each luminaire reflects light should agree with IDA standards.

This step is a very postive step, because it signifies the fact that Energy Star has formally accepted the environmentally friendly nature of fully shielded light fixtures. Also this step also signifies that outdoor/public LED lights will in the future, be both environmentally and dark sky friendly.

It is important to note that these desired changes have not been officially passed. They must go through a 60 day review period by the US Department of Energy before they will be passed, and become part of 2009 Energy Star requirements. In order to protect the night sky and become more energy efficient such changes are very necessary. Get involved and encourage the US Department of Energy to accept these changes. If you desire to help in this endeavor please direct emails to: ssl@energystar.gov.

All emails and efforts do have the ability to help the IDA and other institutions interested in saving and promoting the health of the night sky. Please be responsible and take the appropriate steps in protecting the night sky.

Starry Night Lights would like to welcome… Solar Powered LED Lights!

The benefits of solar energy are broad and powerful, and the incentives for LED lights are likewise. What could be better than a combination of the two?

It is this fact, which has encouraged Starry Night Lights to recently add solar powered LED area lights to their large collection of night friendly outdoor lighting fixtures. According to founder and president of Starry Night Lights, Anthony Arrigo, these solar powered LED lights “are the best thing to hit the lighting market”. This is because they combine the energy efficiency of LED lights and the clean renewable energy of solar power to create a new product that is both efficient and clean.

It is important to understand that compared to traditional forms of lighting, LED lights offer savings both in energy and financial costs. Also, they have environmental incentives as well, much of which stem from their ability to outlive traditional light bulbs. In fact, when compared to a standard light bulb, LED bulbs have ‘multiple lives’ and will easily end up being cheaper than standard bulbs because of the many more times a regular bulb will need to be replaced.

Also solar power, is one of the most promising and useful new forms of renewable energy. This is because it is a resource that is endless, and has the potential to produce a great amount of clean energy. As a result, many governments have been pushing companies to use solar energy and to work on developing technology which will make solar energy more affordable. In addition, efforts have also been made to make this form of energy even more efficient. It is certain that solar energy is the future of new renewable, clean energy!

Get the best of both worlds buy purchasing solar powered LED lights! It is in the interest of both your wallet and the environment to join in, in making your home or business green. Allow Starry Night Lights to assist you in making your business green and energy efficient. Starry Night Lights, the home of both environmentally and sky friendly lighting fixtures, don’t be shy to ‘light up’ !

Recently, the US House of Representatives signed a bipartisan letter supporting the research and education of light pollution. This letter was directed to the US Environmental Protection Agency and specifically to its administrator, Stephen L. Johnson. The International Dark-Sky Association and all others concerned with the protection of the night sky have reason to be excited.

The letter focused on the effect of light pollution on the night sky and the fact that these effects are growing worse, while also giving solutions to the problem. In addition the letter designated four specific steps for the Environmental Protection Agency, these steps included; having the EPA officially create a definition for light pollution, have light pollution research included in future programs, making light pollution a center part of the agency’s programs and education, while also expanding on information about fixtures in Energy Star publications and such.

The President of the IDA Board of Directors, Christian K. Monrad, commented on this new development and the notion of an official definition for light pollution by saying, “we [IDA] estimate that there are approximately 2,500 outdoor lighting codes in the U.S. alone; some of them very well-written and others that are not. Having federal research and recognition of light pollution would assist states and municipalities in having a solid baseline for future codes and revisions to current ones.”

The IDA had signatures collected on the 20th of June, in one of two Congressional briefings held by the IDA during the summer. The legislators who agreed to assist the IDA in their fight to protect the night sky by signing the letter include:

Todd Akin (R-MO, 2nd district)
Nancy Boyda (D-KS, 2nd district)
John Culberson (R-TX, 7th district)
Terry Everett (R-AL, 2nd district)
Sam Farr (D-CA, 17th district)
Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ, 8th district)
Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ, 7th district)
Phil Hare (D-IL, 17th district)
Steve Israel (D-NY, 2nd district)
Jim McDermott (D-WA, 7th district)
Lamar Smith (R-TX, 21st district)

For more information please go to: www.darksky.org

In order to view the letter signed by the US House of Representatives please go to: http://data.nextrionet.com/site/idsa/EPAletter073008.pdf

The search for the perfect lighting for your home can be very difficult, how does one know which company will best suit them? When looking for the ideal lighting, one must take many things into consideration. These things include; design, finish, color, size, amount of light needed and price, of course. However there is one other important factor that should be considered when choosing lighting and that is the environmental impact, positive or negative, that your lighting can have the environment. Poor lighting, is not only bad for your eyes… it is bad for our environment.

First of all, both lighting fixtures and light bulbs can be either energy efficient or energy inefficient, it is important to know which category the lighting of your home falls in. This is because one will waste a great deal of energy and money, by choosing lighting that is not energy efficient. Thus, it is wise to be guaranteed energy efficient appliances, in order make sure that your lighting choice is your best choice.

Also, with regard to outdoor lighting, energy efficient and environmentally friendly lighting choices are particularly important. This is because when you light outside your home, your lighting choice is no longer only affecting you and the individuals living in your home. By choosing the wrong kind of outdoor lighting, one can become the least favored person of the neighborhood. Thus, when picking the lighting around your home, you must pick lighting that is ‘neighbor friendly’. In order to ensure that you are only lighting your areas, and to guarantee that no light is shining uninvited into the homes of your neighbors.

In addition, when choosing outdoor lighting one should choose lighting that is night sky friendly. This means that your lighting will not shine aimlessly into the night sky. One may wonder why this is important, without realizing that light which shines aimlessly into the night sky is known as light pollution. Light pollution causes the night sky to look very hazy, an effect which is known as sky glow. Light pollution, makes viewing the stars impossible and it clouds the sky in an unpleasant fog.

When taking all of these factors into consideration, it is important to choose a company that will provide you with all these benefits while remaining an appropriate financial option… this is why you should choose Starry Night Lights! Starry Night Lights is able to provide environmentally night sky friendly lighting, guaranteed to be energy efficient. In addition, color, design and finishing options are plentiful, allowing one to be guaranteed environmental benefits without having to compromise on specific tastes and desires. Allow Starry Night Lights to serve you, after all you’ll be in ‘good hands’ guaranteed!