Glare vs Glow - Vine Street Too Bright

This time of year, we spend a lot of time outside in the dark. It is unavoidable when dusk is 5pm. And one of the things that makes this season bearable, even enjoyable is the lighting, things like candles, glowing windows and Christmas lights.

One of my favorite lights is the round window at Music Hall. Sometimes at night it looks like a giant full-moon rising over Washington Park:

I think that it is true that buildings lit from the inside glow and are therefore more beautiful that those lit with spotlights. However there is a place for spotlights too. Carew Tower is a beautiful example. Christ Hospital is extreme overkill, IMO.

In the suburbs, super-bright lights are common. There a strong belief that brightness = safety, and certainly dark streets are more dangerous. However, many commercial spaces go way overboard, especially gas stations:

But the real problem with the picture above isn't the level of brightness, it is the bare, exposed bulb/refractor that is so unpleasant to the eye. This is called glare. Here is another example of glare, from Dalton Street:

Compare the gas station above with this one from the LSI (a light fixture manufacturer) website. The bulbs are not directly hitting your eyes, but the area is still well lit:


Cities have bright lights. That is fine and even good. But people who install the street lighting, such as the City of Cincinnati Department of Public Works cannot seem to distinguish between the different purposes for light. There are two basic types of lighting: decorative and safety. The new lights in OTR try to be both, with disastrous results. Because they have a total glass globe enclosure, 90% of the light shines up into bedroom windows and into the sky. Yes, when you throw this much light out there, some of it will reach the sidewalk where it is needed, but so much is also wasted:
Vine Street Glare

Daytime picture of the new fixtures. Do these fixtures fit in OTR? Frankly, I think a modern fixture would be just as appropriate:

But there are fully shielded reproduction fixtures that would work too. See the Darksky website for a sample of shielded light fixtures. There are lots of options here.

I tried to find some examples of good night lighting, but it was hard. Here is what I came up with:

Washington Park light poles. These are older poles with visible refractors, but since the wattage is not too bright, the effect is OK.

The above lights mixed with holiday lights a few years ago:

The new 8th St Viaduct lighting is very high and mostly sheilded. While not appropriate for a pedestrian zone, it is a decent result for a high-car-traffic street:

The new suburban PNC branch banks are designed to a LEED standard, and get credit for using 100% shielded light fixtures:

Piatt Park, mixed decorative lights above, with area pole lights on side. This works pretty well:

Greenwich apartment entry, shielded area lighting with decorative holiday lights, good combo:

Paris night cafe, direct lighting, but not harsh. (Found this image on the web, but cannot remember where):

Nightime at the Zoo

Walkway across Vine Street to Zoo is fun:
 

Madcap Puppets always put on a great show. This one with black light on the puppets and the puppeteers all in black and invisible.
 

Two Footcandles a Waste

We have, overtime, overlighted everything in America.
...
Anything over two (footcandles) is a waste of money

-Howard Brandston, Lighting expert in the New Yorker, 3/23/09 page 26 (no link)

IDA Developing Model Ordinance

The International Dark-Sky Association has just completed a long process in which they have written a model ordinance that can be adopted by local jurisdictions to limit harmful light tresspass, glare etc. They are accepting comments and criticism for the next months, and will have a final document later this year. Read about it here.

When You Wish Upon a Star...

I've always felt like our government was raining it down upon us, but never knew why. Finally, we get a solid scientific answer to the question. Thanks NASA.

Night Lights at the Cincinnati Observatory

We've come full circle. Mike has a great post below about the modern problem of stray light obscuring the night sky. A century and a quarter ago the Cincinnati Observatory had to move from Mt. Ida (now Mt. Adams) to its current location in Mt. Lookout to get away from the basin's ubiquitous coal smoke, which likewise obstructed their view. Read the history here.

The observatory is no longer making cutting-edge discoveries like the old days. It's new mission is to spread the excitement of astronomy to the rest of us, and especially kids. It's not everyday that an ordinary Joe can walk into a research institution and handle a planet-class instrument like theirs. But that's exactly what we all are invited to do this weekend. From the Observatory website:

LUMINARIA
Night Lights at the Cincinnati Observatory
December 14, from 6:30-9pm

Join us for the 33rd year of this Mount Lookout tradition. As the neighborhood lights up the streets, the Cincinnati Observatory will open its buildings and telescopes for the general public. Cruise from Mount Lookout Square to the Observatory for carolers, stargazing, a gift shop, and hot drinks.

Perfect for all ages.

Cost: Free

No reservations required. For more information call 513-321-5186.

The staff are down to earth, explain things in layman's terms, and the center is very child-friendly. Everybody takes turns stepping up to the eyepiece and looking through the big tube. Kids who know what planets are and have enough patience to sit through a movie will enjoy the novelty of it. As a parent, the real joy is watching their brains expand as it hits them that they are actually looking at another planet/galaxy/quasar/etc.

Darkness Appropriate at Night

 

Good Article in the non-printed Christian Science Monitor a few days ago:

...the National Park Service estimates that two-thirds of Americans cannot see the Milky Way from their homes.

...The cause of this stellar pall? Carelessly designed streetlamp fixtures, signs, and office lighting controls that pointlessly illuminate the sky, blocking our view of the universe.

...It would be one thing if all this light contributed to public safety, that is, if the illumination actually reduced the chances of a nighttime collision or mugging. But many of our light fixtures cast light sideways and upwards, temporarily blinding us and creating dark spots that we could otherwise see into. ... our light fixtures tend to create “glare bombs” that obscure as much as they illuminate.

Jupiter Venus and a New Moon

A good chance to try to introduce some astronomy concepts to kids:

Despite the light pollution, Venus and Jupiter have been extremely easy to see the past few nights. They are getting closer and closer to each other and they will be joined by a cresent moon later this week. From downtown look towards Price Hill between 5 and 7pm and watch them set on the western horizon. Venus is the first starlike object visible in the sky while the sunset is still glowing.

Stars Unknown to Many

What was that eerie cloud?

Unfortunately, because of the tremendous increase in light pollution over the past quarter century, the majority of our current generation have never seen the night sky in all its grandeur.

In his book "Nightwatch," the well-known Canadian astronomer Terrence Dickinson comments that in the aftermath of the predawn 1994 Northridge, California earthquake, electrical power was knocked out over a wide area. Tens of thousands of people in southern California rushed out of their homes looked up and perhaps for the first time in their lives saw a dark, starry sky. In the days and weeks that followed, radio stations and observatories in the Los Angeles area received countless numbers of phone calls from concerned people who wondered whether the sudden brightening of the stars and the appearance of an eerie silvery cloud (the Milky Way) might have caused the quake.

"Such reaction," notes Dickinson, "can come only from people who have never seen the night sky away from city lights."

"If the stars should appear but one night every thousand years how man would marvel and stare.”-Ralph Waldo Emerson

If there were men who had always lived underground in fine and well-lit houses which had been adorned with statues and paintings, and equipped with all the things which those who are considered well-to-do possess in abundance, who had, however, never come forth into the upper world, but had learned by fame and hearsay of the existence of certain divine powers and natures, and had then at some time, through the jaws of the earth being opened, been able to come forth from those hidden regions, and to pass into these parts which we inhabit, when they had suddenly obtained a sight of the land and seas and sky, and had marked the vastness of the clouds, and the force of the winds, and had beheld the sun, and had marked not only its size and beauty, but also its power, since by diffusing light over the whole sky it caused day, and when, again, after night had overshadowed the earth, they then perceived the whole sky studded and adorned with stars, and the change in the light of the moon as it alternately waxed and waned, and the rising and setting of all these bodies, and the fixity and unchangeableness of their courses through all eternity, when they saw those things, they would assuredly believe both that the gods existed and that these mighty works proceeded from them.

-Cicero, quoting Aristotle, On the Nature of the Gods, 2.95...

...Are we with our light pollution like those people living underground?

See all my Dark Sky posts here.

You Can See Stars from Tuscon

A great article about the city of Tuscon, and how they have regained the night sky.

With a metro area of over 900,000 people, can you believe that the night sky is still visible? The city laws, which restrict the types of light allowed, were written because of local observatories, however I like this quote:

Astronomers, however, are the first to say that a dark sky is about more than scientific research.

"Just like seeing a redwood or a beautiful landscape in Yosemite or Grand Canyon, a starry sky can be an inspiring thing," says astronomer Luginbuhl. "Whoever thinks we preserve the Grand Canyon so geologists can do research?"

UPDATE: I just found a good cobra-head LED light fixture at www.ledtronics.com

Ann Arbor Leading Way on Street Lighting

..By switching to LED fixtures that save energy and preserve the night sky:

 

Ann Arbor is changing city street lights to power saving LEDs. They hope to save over $100k dollars a year in electricity costs. However, they also will be helping the citizens see the night sky, because LED fixtures are typically full cut-off type lights that direct the light to the ground instead of into the sky. LED lights are by design one-directional, as opposed to standard incandescent bulbs which radiate light in all directions. They are inherently more efficient because all the energy is used for it's intended purpose (to light a specific surface), and less energy is wasted on unintentional lighting of neighbor's windows or the night sky.

ANN ARBOR, MI — The City of Ann Arbor, Michigan, the newest LED City™, expects to install more than 1,000 LED streetlights beginning next month. The City anticipates a 3.8-year payback on its initial investment. The LED lights typically burn five times longer than the bulbs they replace and require less than half the energy. The LED streetlights currently installed in Ann Arbor are based on the New Westminster Series made by Lumec, Inc., which contain LED light engines from Relume Technologies, Inc. The light engines are based on the performance-leading Cree XLamp® LED.

An older article here, describing the process Ann Arbor went through the past few years evaluating the lighting options.
Here is an interview with the guy in charge of Ann Arbor's lights. Also a detailed description of the engineering issues.

Typical LED cobra-head type roadway fixture:

 

Cincinnati should do this. It would improve the quality of life, have long term costs savings, and it could help market Cincinnati as a green city. Everyone will be switching to these someday, why not be a leader?

Previous post on stargazing in the city.

Planetaria Open to Public

Like many Cincinnati children, I was very fond of the Planetarium at the old Natural History Museum on Gilbert Avenue. I had assumed they were a thing of the past, and that I would never set foot in one again. Fortunately, I was wrong.

This past summer the Cincinnati Park Board reopened a very small planetarium (it maybe seats 20) in Burnet Woods, at the Trailside Nature Center. Our family attended a short program, and the kids enjoyed it a lot. This setting is very appropriate for little kids because the naturalist is very casual, and talks directly to and interacts with the audience.
[where: Brookline Dr & Burnet Woods Dr, Cincinnati, OH 45220]

Then, yesterday I read that Northern Kentucky University, has just completed construction of a state-of-the-art laser projection planetarium. This planetarium will be open to the public every Monday at noon (beginning Sept 27), and it can be reserved for school classes or groups. It seats 61. I haven't attended yet, but it seems more appropriate for older kids, as the programs are computerized and explore science questions.

...Northern Kentucky University's campus has joined the list of seven institutions worldwide to boast a laser projection planetarium, and the first ever installed on an educational campus.

NKU unveiled Aug. 27 its plans to open the new Carol Anne and Ralph V. Haile Jr./US Bank Foundation Digital Planetarium, which is set to open to the campus community Sept. 17, 2007, at noon.

Tours will be available the opening week every day at noon and that Saturday at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. After that, tours will be available with tickets each Monday at noon. Tickets are free and will be available throughout campus at undetermined locations at the time of print.

The planetarium, which is being funded by a $2.7 million federal grant and private funds from the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile Jr./US Bank Foundation, has a 16 megapixel resolution, uses three six watt lasers, and takes 18 computers to run, according to a press release from the university.

"We expect this facility and its programs to create a 'wow' factor, instilling in students a lifelong passion for discovery and exploration," President James Votruba said in the release. "We've come a long way since chalkboards and classroom movie projectors."

Dan Spence, coordinator of the planetarium, said it has been a dream of his for nearly 20 years. Spence taught astronomy courses and labs at NKU while serving as the Cincinnati Planetarium director from 1977 to 1985...

[where: 7 Kenton Dr., Highland Heights, KY 41099]

Apparently there is also a planetarium in Norwood High School.

Also: this site has a list of all the planetaria in Ohio!

Stargazing in the city

Our family saw dramatic shooting stars last week while out of town. At the time, I didn't realize that it was the middle of the Perseid Meteor shower.

We also gazed at the Milky Way, a sight which most suburban and urban children now rarely see.

We also saw satellites travelling across the sky, which I never see from my city perch.

Our city balcony faces west, which means we can often observe planets following the sunset, and can see more stars than you would think, being that we live amongst much light pollution. It is important for me and my children to be able to sit out at night and stargaze. We are not astronomers; not even amateurs, but we enjoy it nonetheless.

Make no doubt about it, excess light is pollution. Light shining up into the sky is in essence, wasted energy; caused by laziness on the part of engineers and ignorance of property owners. They install improperly designed and improperly directed light, and they insist that more is better, which is not true. Just enough light is best.

Sure, light pollution is pretty low on most people's priorities (below things such as crime, transportation, schools and dozens of other things) but I think it is another quality of life issue, up there with other local forms of pollution such as litter, noise and graffiti, that make city living less pleasant. Some cities, such as Tuscon, near Kitt Peak Observatory, have implemented light trespass ordinances to much success.

A study of Cincinnati would probably show that road lighting as well as uplighting on buildings cause the most damage. What would it take to start installing "full cut-off" fixtures at these locations? Most street lighting would provide the same function, and would have less distracting glare to drivers, if it was shielded so that the light shines downward, not horizontally or upward. Building lighting can be done with neon outline lights or downlights, or portions, such as the top of a tall builings can be internally illuminated to great effect.

Although our night sky is ruined by light from dozens of jurisdictions, it would be a great start and a great statement for the City of Cincinnati to pass a light pollution ordinance.