Light pollution

What is light pollution?

Def: Any adverse effect of artificial light including sky glow, glare, light trespass, light clutter, decreased visibility at night, and energy waste.

See my video on Light Pollution on YouTube......HERE

Sky glow:

Sky glow is the effect of artificial illumination of the night sky caused by bad lighting or too much lighting.  It washes out the stars making even the clearest night glow in orange.

Glare:

Glare is the effect of dazzling ones eyes by the bright emission of light from a single or multiple source.  This can be dangerous for driving, as the lights often obscure the road if too bright.  It also causes astronomers a large headache as it ruins their night vision.

Light trespass:

Light trespass or spillover, is the effect by which light is leaked onto surrounding properties by high or badly positioned light.  This causes bright night lighting on an area which would otherwise be nice and dark.

Light clutter:

Similar to glare, light clutter or over illumination, is the effect of large amounts of lighting being used in one area.  Many road junctions or intersections clutter the road user with huge amounts of lighting, where only half as much would suffice.

All this light pollution adds up to create an enormous problem.

Without light                                                             With light

Below are examples of the lighting in my local area.

Below are 2 images of the same light.  There are around 30 of these in the car park, and are left on all night for "security reasons".  The advantage of these lights, is that they do not spill much light above 90 degrees, keeping the light where it is needed.  However, in a car park with over 30 of them...they produce far too much light, and contribute largely to sky glow in there direction.

Below demonstrates the awful use of lighting at my local supermarket, surprisingly next to the car park above, and just 600 metres from my house.

As you can see this use of lighting allows light to escape in all directions.  Strangely, the lights on the right hand image (globe lighting) create shadows below the lights instead of illuminating the ground beneath it.  Note how the pole is in shadow.

Below are just 2 examples of a growing number of neighbourhood floodlights.  Unfortunately both the rear lights and those on the front of people houses are far to sensitive.  Many turn on when branches in their garden move in strong winds, or people walk past the houses on the pavement.