Links to information on Outdoor Lighting and
Light Pollution
Organizations:
International
Dark Sky Association ......Invaluable Source for Lighting
Information
Illuminating
Engineering Society of North America
British
Astronomical Association - Campaign For Dark Skies
New
England Light Pollution Advisory Group (NELPAG)
Light Pollution Reduction Efforts:
Virginia Outdoor Lighting Taskforce
Outdoor Lighting and Crime:
The effect of increased outdoor lighting on crime reduction is difficult to establiish.
A study in England and Wales, published in 2015 in British Medical Journals, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, found that lighting had no effect on road traffic collisions and crime.
The effect of reduced street lighting on road casualties and crime in England and Wales: controlled interrupted time series analysis
The Chicago Alley Lighting Project published April, 2000 found that brightly lit alleys did not experience a decrease in crime.
Since both the experimental area and the control area experienced increases in reported incidents during the evening, while having decreases in reported daytime incidents, it is difficult to ascertain whether increased alley lighting had any effect. Also, both areas reported increases in all crime categories between the six months preinstallation and the six months post-installation. Based on the analysis, it is difficult to point to any conclusive evidence that increased alley lighting had an effect on crime. Click here.
PREVENTING CRIME: WHAT WORKS, WHAT DOESN'T, WHAT'S PROMISING - Chapter 7 - Preventing Crime at Places
1996 Report to the United States Congress Prepared for the National Institute of Justice.
See the section on lighting for Open Public Spaces in cities, including street corners and segments.
From Chapter 7:
"Is street lighting an effective approach in the reduction and deterrence of crime? The answer is inconclusive. The paucity of reliable and uniform data and the inadequacy of available evaluation studies preclude a definitive statement regarding the relationship between street lighting and crime." (Tien, et. al. 1979, page 93, emphasis in the original)
"Not much has changed since Tien and his colleagues (1979) gave their critical assessment of the impact of lighting on crime. In part this is due to the lack of research on lighting, particularly in the United States. However, the limited research on lighting continues to use weak designs (typically without control areas) which fail to substantially reduce our uncertainty about the effect of lighting on crime. We may speculate that lighting is effective in some places, ineffective in others, and counter productive in still other circumstances. The problematic relationship between lighting and crime increases when one considers that offenders need lighting to detect potential targets and low-risk situations (Fleming and Burrows 1986). Consider lighting at outside ATM machines, for example. An ATM user might feel safer when the ATM and its immediate surrounding area are well lit. However, this same lighting makes the patron more visible to passing offenders. Who the lighting serves is unclear."
Click here to see the entire National Institute of Justice report
Report prepared by Lawrence W. Sherman, Denise Gottfredson, Doris MacKenzie, John Eck, Peter Reuter, and Shawn Bushway, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice University of Maryland
Outdoor Lighting and the Environment:
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Light Pollution Issue 2023 Abstracts (October, 2023) Excessive artificial light in our environment is increasingly recognised as a major driver of environmental change and a growing topic of concern.....PDF File
Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting Conference abstracts from the Urban Wildlands Group and UCLA Institute of the Environment
Model Outdoor Lighting Ordinances:
Tucson and Pima County Arizona Outdoor Lighting Control Ordinances
Light Pollution Satellite Images:
Worldwide Night Sky Brightness Maps
Light Pollution Information & Videos
The City Dark excerpt.........4 minute clip of the film The City Dark (30 sec. commercial at the beginning)
Preserving the starry, starry night.........CBS News 5 min video
The Day the Lights Went Out.........from the Global Explorers
Light Pollution: John Garrett at TEDxTemecula.........TED talk about light pollution
Losing the Dark.........6 minute video summarizing the issues of waste outdoor lighting and the loss of the natural beauty of the night sky.
Hidden Costs of Light Pollution.........from HIDDEN COSTS Video Series
The Night Sky: Sometimes you don’t know what you had when it’s gone!.........from Envision Frederick County Executive Director's blog
Skykeepers.........Includes Links to Recent Light Pollution Articles
National Lighting Inventory and Energy Consumption Estimate - US DOE 2012.........The Lighting Market Characterization study is a multiyear program to evaluate light sources in the United States, and identify opportunities for saving energy.
Light Pollution: The Dark Side of Outdoor Lights.........Overview of light pollution issues
Light and Health
Light is a potent stimulus for regulating circadian, hormonal, and behavioral systems. Light on the retina is the primary synchronizer of human circadian rhythms.
Light and Health.........(video 5 min) from Philips Lighting - Basic concepts of Light and Health and how they are related
Lighting Research Center Response to the American Medical Association (AMA) Report on LED Lighting.........(video 01:05:58) Presented by Lighting Research Center scientists Dr. Mark Rea and Dr. Mariana Figueiro on March 15, 2017
Street Lighting, Blue Light, and Light at Night.........United States Department of Energy
IES Board Position on AMA CSAPH Report 2-A-16, Human and Environmental Effects of Light Emitting Diode (LED) Community Lighting.........Illuminating Engineering Society
Selected Blue Light Characteristics of Various Outdoor Lighting Sources at Equivalent Lumen Output.........United States Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy
LRC Educational videos - 1. Circadian Rhythms .........Lighting Research Center - Researching how light can be used to promote health and wellbeing.
LRC Educational videos - 2. Circadian Stimulus .........Lighting Research Center - Researching how light can be used to promote health and wellbeing.
LRC Educational videos - 3. How to Use the LRC's Circadian Stimulus Calculator.........Lighting Research Center - Researching how light can be used to promote health and wellbeing.
Sources For Shielded Light Fixtures:
Good
Lighting Fixtures and Where to Get Them - by IDA
Glare Buster Shielded Home Fixture - bronze
Environmentally Friendly Lighting by Starry Night Lights
Sky Quality Meter Log Hopewell Big Woods
