Bob Parks, Executive Director Smart Outdoor Lighting Alliance March 5, 2015

 Anthropogenic or man-made  Artificial; not natural  Occurring during natural dark cycle  Natural night brightness varies due to moon phase cycle ( lux at zenith) WHAT IS LIGHT AT NIGHT?

 18.7% of Earth’s surface is subject to artificial brightness of 10% or more above natural  61.8% of the United States  75% of US population lives under unnatural levels of LAN  LAN in major cities is typically 100 to 200 times brighter than a natural night sky LIGHT AT NIGHT STATISTICS

 LAN creates winners and losers  Attracts and repels  Disrupts:  Foraging  Predation  Migration  Reproduction  Communication ECOLOGICAL IMPACT OF LAN JP Stanley

Disruption of foraging patterns  Increases predation risk  Increases mortality on roads  Bats fly farther and use more energy to avoid lights  Reduces body weight and reproduction in females MAMMALS

 Disrupts natural cycles of reproductive and migration  Birds fly into lighted buildings  Off-shore drilling platforms & towers lighting causes significant attraction  Hydrocarbon flares attract and incinerate night flying seabirds BIRDS

Artificial light contributes to an estimated 10 to 40 million bird deaths annually in the United States alone. BIRDS Jim Richardson

 Diurnal (day) species extend activity and exploit prey attracted to lights  Light attracts breeding frogs, who stop calling  LAN has profound impacts on physiology, behavior and development REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS

 Reduces nesting habitat – Females avoid areas near lighted beaches  Hatching disorientation – Crawl towards area with brightest horizon  Which can often be roads or lighted development  Exhaustion/dehydration  Increases mortality  Increases predation SEA TURTLES Jelga

Fun Fact: Great White sharks have now learned to hunt seals at night using city lights! FISH

 Most attracted to white light  Increases mortality at street lights  Confuses species that use light for communication (Fireflies)  Interferes with normal migration  Aquatic invertebrates – disrupts behavior and increases predation risk INVERTEBRATES

PLANTS Affects:  Germination  Leaf growth  Flower development  Fruit development  Leaf senescence  Abscission  Cessation of leaf production

Circadian Disruption  LAN disrupts immune system – suppresses melatonin – affects all species of animals and plants  Linked to insomnia, obesity, diabetes, ADD, and cancer  Photo ganglion cells have peak sensitivity ~480nm (Blue) ECOLOGICAL IMPACT OF LAN Jim Richardson

Broad Spectrum White Light  White LEDs start as blue  Highest CCD LED is the most efficacious and have the most blue spectral power distribution (SPD)  White light improves visibility  However, improvement in visibility drops off above 3500K CCT ECOLOGICAL IMPACT OF LAN

Broad Spectrum White Light  Efficacy vs. Ecological impact  As LED efficacy improves, compromise will become easier  Generally, use lowest CCD to minimize impact; however…  SPD & melanopic lux is best metric  Minimizing total lumens in the environment more important ECOLOGICAL IMPACT OF LAN

LED SPECTRUM 5500 K CCT

LED SPECTRUM 2700 K CCT

Properly Shielded Fixtures  Direct light to the task area  Reduce skyglow and light trespass Light for Visibility  Use just the illumination levels necessary for the task  Eliminate glare  Reducing uniformity may improve visibility by increasing contrast BEST PRACTICES FOR ECOLOGICALLY RESPONSIBLE OUTDOOR LIGHTING

Adaptive Controls:  Allows dimming to match pedestrian/vehicle traffic illumination requirements  Employ timers/switches to turn off lighting when no longer needed  Increase energy savings by 50% +  Reduce glare, energy costs and CO 2  Increase fixture life BEST PRACTICES FOR ECOLOGICALLY RESPONSIBLE OUTDOOR LIGHTING

Tvilight

Spectrum  Narrow-band “true” amber and phosphor converted “PC” amber (~590nm) LEDs provide viable replacement for LPS  PC amber LED has greater efficacy LPW than true amber LED at LPW  “Turtle friendly” turns out to be best all around light source for ecologically sensitive areas BEST PRACTICES FOR ECOLOGICALLY RESPONSIBLE OUTDOOR LIGHTING

LED SPECTRUM PC Amber

Dynamic Spectral Tuning  Arrays of different LEDs in fixture allow for programming a variety of correlated color temperature (CCT) over time  Locally or remotely controlled  Provide white light during peak activity hours for maximum visibility; smooth transition later to lower CCT BEST PRACTICES FOR ECOLOGICALLY RESPONSIBLE OUTDOOR LIGHTING

80% of outdoor lighting is used for Commercial & Public Exterior Lighting  ~750 million Outdoor Lighting Fixtures* Worldwide  ~160 million Outdoor Lighting Fixtures* in US *Commercial & Public Exterior (Road, Street, Parking + Buildings) WORLD OUTDOOR LIGHTING FACTS

Total Wasted Energy is approx % overall from:  Unwarranted (not needed) = 25%  Over-lighting (excessive illumination) = 25%  Not dimmed or on curfew = 25%  Glare =15%  Uplight = 10% WORLD OUTDOOR LIGHTING FACTS

Approx. Wasted Energy = 1.1 PetaWatt Hours Annually  The equivalent output of 500 power plants running 24/7/365  Could power ~ 7,750,000 homes  Producing 750 million tons of CO2  Cost = approximately $110 billion (US dollars) WORLD OUTDOOR LIGHTING FACTS