Links to Helpful Info Regarding Light Pollution

Other useful information:

Helpful advice for builders who want to create environmentally friendly night-time situations in the vicinity of any manmade structures.
Helpful information for addressing and solving local residential light-trespass/glare and light-pollution problems/issues. One needs to exercise thoughtfulness and tact when seeking to address such light-pollution problems/issues.
Helpful information on specific outdoor lamps:
- The Good Neighbor Outdoor Lighting brochure contains a list of full-cutoff outdoor lighting fixtures, along with serial numbers and manufacturers; it is now available at the IDA website.
- Table listing different types of lamps: watts vs. lumens.
- Additional lamp comparisons: watts vs. lumens [from IDA].
- Additional lamp comparisons: efficiency [from IDA].
Additional economic issues in outdoor lighting [from IDA].
Definitions of lighting terms [from IDA].
Some good model ordinances for cities and towns:
- Model outdoor-lighting ordinance from Kennebunkport, ME.
- The best lighting ordinance in the world: Tucson, AZ [from IDA].
- Another good existing outdoor-lighting ordinance, from Cloudcroft, NM.
- Sample lighting ordinance for cities/towns
List of web-accessible state and city/town laws/ordinances..
Info regarding the outdoor-lighting bill under consideration by the Massachusetts state legislature.
Detailed info on roadway lighting
Get on the NELPAG e-mail discussion-group list! Just send e-mail to NELPAG-REQUEST@harvee.billerica.ma.us, asking to be placed on the list (stating the e-mail address you want used), and you'll get the NELPAG Circulars and other discussion threads on outdoor lighting issues that are sent out by discussion-group members.

A key source for information on outdoor night lighting is the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). All people concerned with improving the quality of outdoor night lighting should become members of the IDA, a non-profit group.

Some Internet discussion groups are good ways for getting more information on light pollution.

Good links to other practical and educational information on outdoor night lighting [note that we try to link only to sites that will accomodate simple, text-only LYNX and/or non-frames-intensive MOSAIC browsers, as a courtesy to our readers!]. Note that these links frequently change or disappear altogether, unfortunately, so it is important to have light-pollution websites that are relatively stable (after only 5-8 years, the vast majority of links here were found to be no longer active in early 2007, though some revising has been done in 2007).

Information on light pollution from other groups:
Information on state-government studies and legislation (city/town ordinance and by-law data given above):
- Maine law.
- Connecticut law.
- Pending Massachusetts law.
- Pending New Hampshire legislation.
- Text of NY House Bill A5352B (passed 2001 June 20) [original URL link seems to be broken, but bill might be found by searching website listed below].
- History of NY House Bill A5352B (passed 2001 June 20). [URL no longer active, but bill might be found by searching website]
- History and Text of NY Senate Bill S3386B (passed 2001 June 21) [original URL link seems to be broken, but bill might be found by searching website in item above].
- Texas law (signed into law in 1999 by Gov. Bush).
- NM state law (as of 2000). 1-1-2000 N.M.S., section 74-12 (URL no longer active). Executive Order D-19-01 (2001 Feb. 1), to turn off unnecessary lights.
- Text of new (2003) Arizona law. [warning: PDF file, requires Adobe reader]
- Text of Colorado law. [warning: PDF file, requires Adobe reader]
- Text of new (2003) Wyoming law. [warning: PDF file, requires Adobe reader]
- More complete IDA listings of state-government information.
Information on outdoor lighting and effects on animals:
- Lights affect turtles. III.
- Fatal Light Awareness Program. Artificial lights kill birds [warning: website requires high-level image-only web browsers].
- Lit towers kill birds...
- Nuisance crows that are known to spread the West Nile Virus are attracted by artificial lights. A correlation between lights and large numbers of crows was discussed on a recent National Geographic Explorer television documentary on crows, discussing the problems at Auburn, NY, and Harrisburg, PA, with thousands of crows descending on these cities at night.
Information on outdoor lighting from professional groups of lighting engineers:
- IESNA (Illuminating Engineering Society Of North America).
- CIE (International Commission on Illumination) [Austrian Website].
- Cities/towns/states/businesses/developers: for advice and helpful information on good outdoor lighting by some experienced, professional lighting designers/engineers, contact Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Inc. and/or J. & M. Associates (phone 207-967-5223). Paul Lutkevich of "Parsons, Brinckerhoff" and James M. Stockman of "J. & M. Associates" have been instrumental in getting good cutoff lighting installed around the nation in many different types of outdoor applications.
Information on good, full-cutoff outdoor lighting produced by commercial companies:
- The fabulous new Glarebuster light, for residential and small-business use.
- Good source for human- and sky-friendly outdoor lighting for residential and business.
- Dimmers for outdoor lighting to prevent overly high levels of illumination.
- Full-cutoff outdoor lighting for sports fields, II. A company known as Widelite of San Marco, TX, produces triangular-type fixtures that cast light down onto fields and not away from the field (triangular so as to spread light toward the center of a ball field from the perimeter). One group who installs Widelites for ballfields is Gould Associates, 17 Greenleaf Rd., Natick, MA 01760 (telephone 512-392-5821).
General sources in the lighting industry:
- Lighting-industry sources.
- Lights and energy: links (Swedish site).

New England Light Pollution Advisory Group (NELPAG)