NELPAG Circular No. 13 1995 November 28
New England Light Pollution Advisory Group (NELPAG)
Editor: Daniel W. E. Green [Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory;
60 Garden Street; Cambridge, MA 02138] (telephone 617-495-7440)
e-mail: green@cfa (.bitnet, .span, or .harvard.edu)
Secretary: Eric Johansson (telephone 508-667-0137)
email: esj@harvee.billerica.ma.us
"Subscription" to this irregular news/information Circular is available by
sending self-addressed, stamped (32 cents in the U.S.A.) regular-sized
(9.5x4-inch) envelopes (SASE) to Dan Green at his postal address, or by
sending your e-mail address to NELPAG-REQUEST@YEEHAH.MERK.COM (Internet).
Contributed information for this Circular concerning outdoor lighting problems
in New England (or pertinent info from outside New England) are always welcome.
Please circulate this newsletter to all interested parties. Look at our
World Wide Web site at URL http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/nelpag/nelpag.html
***********
NELPAG REPRESENTED AT STELLAFANE MEETING
At the August Stellafane convention, NELPAG members Peter Talmage, Mario
Motta, and Bernie Volz gave a short presentation at the end of the tent talks
on Saturday. They discussed the current efforts of NELPAG and introduced the
7th draft of the "Good Neighbor Outdoor Lighting" pamphlet which was printed
up in large volume by Sky & Telescope for distribution at Stellafane. Copies
were handed out to everyone in the audience and were also made avaiable at
other sites over the remainder of the weekend. It was felt that the
distribution of GNOL will help a lot of people get started in their local
efforts to fight light pollution. Everyone was encouraged to copy their copy
and spead them around at home. A loud call of thanks goes to Sky & Telescope
(and particularly to Edwin Aguirre) for their effort and donation in supplying
the hundreds of copies of the pamphlet. --- Peter Talmage
Mario Motta further reports: "On Saturday evening, I wrote an
announcement about NELPAG that was read by Morse [in connection with the
keynote evening talk]." Bernie Volz adds: "S&T and I handed out the "Good
Neighbor Outdoor Lighting"; we gave away about 200 of them. The remaining
copies were dropped of at the bunchhouse and an annoucement was made during
the evening session letting people know that it was available. Mario was
unable to get Stellafane to allow him (or anyone) from doing the NELPAG
briefing during the evening program --- they would only allow a brief
written announcement, which Mario wrote and was read. One reason given for
not allowing the NELPAG briefing was because S&T paid for the xeroxing.
Apparently, Stellafane organizers are angry at S&T because they never cover
Stellafane. I also suspect that they don't want to get into the habit
of doing these types of announcements because it could get out of hand."
NEWS NOTES OF INTEREST
+ The American Planning Association's monthly newsletter, called
Zoning News, published in its October issue a four-page article
on exterior night lighting issues. The NELPAG got prominent mention
therein, and subsequently Dan has received requests from landscape
architects for information for planning (among other things) suburban
subdivisions. It is encouraging to see that non-governmental developmental
and engineering groups are finally getting serious about this issue!
+ There is a great article entitled "Night blindness", by NELPAG Connecticut
representative Arthur Upgren in the latest (Winter 1996) issue of The Amicus
Journal, which is published by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
The Amicus Journal has a circulation of 116,000. I heartily encourage
everyone to join the NRDC, membership of which includes a subscription to
the Journal; this is one of the few environmental organizations that is
top-heavy with scientists. Annual membership is only $10/year; send checks
to NRDC, 40 West 20th St., New York, NY 10011.
+ For those with World Wide Web access, check out the campaign of the British
Astronomical Association called "Campaign for Dark Skies", via their Web
site http://www.u-net.com/ph/cfds/.
+ Philip S. Harrington (Long Island, NY) has written a master's thesis entitled
"Designing A More Energy Efficient Urban Lighting System", which involved a
detailed study of all outdoor lighting at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He
determined that a vast amount of money could be saved by converting from
their high-wattage, unshielded lighting to a more sensible system.
+ Steven Plotnick (Rhinebeck, NY) writes: "I have tried without success so
far to get a lighting ordinance approved for my town of Rhinebeck. The
Town's Planning Board did agree [that] bad lighting is a problem but decided
even the Kennebunkport ordinance was too much regulation."
+ Warren Offutt (Cloudcroft, NM) writes [on 1995 Feb. 2]: "The 41st
Legislature of the State of New Mexico has formally declared New Mexico to
be a 'dark sky state'. While this resolution has no teeth, it has been
helpful in engendering the support of local jurisdictions. The largest
city in [Otero] County, Alamogordo, passed a lighting control ordinance
about 5 years ago. We have recently gotten the approval of the Trustees
of Cloudcroft to proceed with an ordinance for that village, and just this
past Monday, got the agreement of the County Commissioners to proceed on a
[Otero] County-wide ordinance."
+ The 1995 April 9 issue of the Maine Sunday Telegram reported that the town
of Turner (ME) voted to "turn off 29 of the town's 32 street lights [to
save money]. . . Last year the town paid Central Maine Power Co. about
$5000 to keep the lights lit. This year the cost rose to about $5500. . .
Reflectors will be placed prominently along the streets once the lights go
out."
+ Peter Talmage passes this information from Larry Palow, Municipal Service
Advisor at Central Maine Power, in a letter to all towns in its service area
(dated May 31, 1995): "In an effort to respond to requests from some of
our towns, as well as to head in the same direction as the electric utility
industry seems to be going, we have determined that the cutoff type of
luminaire will become our standard fixture rather than the semi-cutoff
fixture that we have been using (See attached photos). The purpose of the
cutoff fixture is to reduce glare to vehicular traffic as well as to reduce
light trespass in residential areas. We will continue to use semi-cutoff
fixtures as long as they are in inventory." Peter adds: "CMP services the
majority of Maine, and I would expect the other two major utilities to
follow suit. This would mean a slow but sure change over to all full cutoff
utility supplied lighting. This is progress!!"
+ Bob Wylie has passed along an interesting article by N. E. Pollard (NEP
Lighting Consultancy, Bath, U.K.) entitled "Sky-glow conscious lighting
design" and published last year in the lighting-engineering journal
Lighting Res. Technol. 26(3), 151-156. Among some of the remarks: "As
society becomes more environmentally conscious, the problems of obtrusive
light (and particularly 'sky glow') have led many road lighting engineers
to demand full cut-off luminaires emitting no light whatsoever above the
horizontal. . . . Stray light going up into the sky is (even if one is not
worried about seeing the stars) poor design, a waste of energy, and a waste
of money. Unfortunately, not all lighting installations are designed by
good lighting engineers." As noted above, it's good to see the lighting
industry talking more openly about change!
+ Talmage also reports: "I am now in production of alloy resin radial wave
and admiral's hat reflectors that are being used by the new PEMCO Lighting
Products company in the production of NEMA head fixtures. Some of the
radial-wave, 50-watt HPS units are going into Kennebunk (ME). BECO (Boston
Edison) has ordered up 15 admiral hat units for demo use in Lexington (MA)
with various lamps. I can now say for sure that it is about to happen."
+ Wisconsin State Assembly Bill 249 was introduced on March 23 by 8 state
representatives and one state senator; the first Energy Committee vote in
February 1994 defeated the bill by a narrow margin (9-7). This bill aims to
force proper outdoor night lighting. Dan has a full version of the bill
(via Dave Crawford) for those who are interested.
OUTDOOR LIGHTING ORDINANCE PROPOSAL: Warwick, Rhode Island
This past Summer, John Bucci proposed an Outdoor Lighting Ordinance
for the City of Warwick in Rhode Island. Mayor Chaffee and the Warwick
City Council have agreed to support as well as help implement an Outdoor
Lighting Ordinance for the second largest populated city in Rhode Island.
John used a guide from a NELPAG model ordinance packet provided by Dan Green.
He admits that NELPAG has been very helpful in offering strategy toward
his efforts. Recently, a second draft has been sent to the town council
for more specific review and comments. He hopes to have a final copy by
the end of this year.
The proposed ordinance has received favorable response from the community.
The local newspaper interviewed John and featured a column entitled "Bring Back
the Night Sky" outlining reasons and motivations for implementing outdoor
lighting legislature to his home town. More later.
--- John Bucci, Cambridge, Mass. (1995 Nov. 8)
***
Next NELPAG meeting: A call for proposed meeting times some weeks ago
solicited a large range of acceptable dates. It was thus decided to hold off
on another meeting until the new year. A NELPAG Circular will be issued as
notification.
***
NELPAG IN CONNECTICUT
from Arthur Upgren, Chair, Connecticut Section (6 July 1995):
I just received word from my house representative that HB-6914 passed
both houses in the Connecticut State Legislature. Section 6 of this composite
bill contains HB-5092, the bill that dealt with light pollution reported
favorably out of the house energy committee a few months ago. The main
difference between that bill and Section of this one came at the instigation
of the Department of Transportation. The concern of the DOT centered on
their fear that implementation of HB-5092 as it stood, could cost the state
millions of dollars. I discount much of the merit of their objection but in
the present cost-cutting climate of this state, opposition to the waiver
forming the last part of Section 6 was probably futile. The level of
implementation remains to be seen but now the terms "light pollution",
"glare" and "full cutoff" have a place in the statutes of a state at ground
zero just a year or two ago.
Two IDA members were particularly instrumental in the passage of this
bill; Bob Crelin and Tom Davis were tireless in their efforts. The
legislation in Maine and Massachusetts provided much of the incentive and
the supportive roles of the IDA and NELPAG were essential in starting
Connecticut in the direction of responsible outdoor lighting.
This legislation may be one reason for my (fairly sudden) increased
participation in lighting decisions of the City of Middletown and the
Wesleyan Hills Association, representing the planned neighborhood in which
I live. At their initiative and invitation, I am invited to Planning and
Zoning Commission meetings, and to help on disputes surfacing between the
WHA and Northeast Utilities over new lighting. The full text of the
pertinent section follows:
Sec. 6 (NEW) (a) As used in this section:
(1) "Fixture" means the assembly that holds a lamp and may
include an assembly housing, a mounting bracket or pole socket, a
lamp holder, a ballast, a reflector or mirror, and a refractor or lens;
(2) "Full cutoff luminaire" means a luminaire that allows no direct
light emissions above a horizontal plane through the luminaire's lowest
light-emitting part;
(3) "Glare" means direct light emitting from a luminaire
that causes reduced vision or momentary blindness;
(4) "illuminance" means the level of light measured at a surface;
(5) "Lamp" means the component of a luminaire that produces
the light;
(6) "Light trespass" means light emitted by a luminaire that
shines beyond the boundaries of the property on which the luminaire is
located;
(7) "Lumen" means a unit of measurement of luminous flux;
(8) "Luminaire" means the complete lighting system, including the
lamp and the fixture;
(9) "Permanent outdoor luminaire" means any luminaire or system of
luminaires that is outdoors and intended to be used for seven days or
longer; and
(10) "State fund" means any bond revenues or any money appropriated
or allocated by the general assembly
(b) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, no state funds
shall be used to install or replace an outdoor luminaire for roadway
lighting unless (1) the luminaire is designed to maximize energy
conservation and to minimize light pollution, glare, and light trespass,
(2) the luminaire's illuminance is equal to the minimum illuminance
adequate for the intended purpose of the lighting, (3) for a luminaire
with a rated output of more than 1800 lumens used on state secondary
highways, as defined in section 13a-14 of the general statutes, and state
special service highways, as defined in said section 13a-14, such luminaire
is a full cutoff luminaire, (4) for a luminaire with a rated output of more
than 1800 lumens used on state primary highways, as defined in said section
13a-14, for which, in the opinion of the commissioner of transportation, use
of a full cutoff luminaire shall not compromise the safety of the highway,
increase the cost of the lighting plan or lighting replacement for the
highway or violate any provision of federal law, such luminaire is a full
cutoff luminaire, and (5) the commissioner of transportation determines that
the purpose of the lighting installation or replacement cannot be achieved
by reducing the speed limit in the area to be lighted or by installing
reflectorized roadway markers, lines, warnings, informational signs or
other means of passive or reflective lighting.
(c) The commissioner of transportation or his designee may waive the
provisions of subdivision (3) of subsection (b) of this section when,
after a request for such a waiver has been made and reviewed, the
commissioner or his designee determines that such a waiver is necessary
for the lighting application. Requests for such a waiver shall be made
to the commissioner or his designee in such form as the commissioner shall
prescribe and shall include, without limitation, a description of the
lighting plan, a description of the efforts that have been made to
comply with the provisions of subdivision (3) of subsection (b) of this
section and the reasons such a waiver is necessary. In reviewing a
request for such a waiver, the commissioner shall consider design safety,
costs and other factors deemed appropriate by the commissioner.
(d) The provisions of this section shall not apply to the installation
or replacement of luminaires for which the secretary of the office of
policy and management (1) conducts a life-cycle cost analysis of one or
more luminaires which meet the requirements set forth in subsection (b)
of this section and one or more luminaires which do not meet such
requirements, and (2) certifies that a luminaire which meets such
requirements is not cost effective and is not the most appropriate
alternative based on the life-cycle cost analysis.
***********
The NELPAG supports the International Dark-Sky Association and recommends
that all individuals/groups who are interested in the problems of light
pollution and obtrusive lighting should subscribe to the IDA Newsletter
(IDA membership costs $20.00 per year; send check to
International Dark-Sky Association, 3545 N. Stewart, Tucson, AZ 85716).