Good news lighting wise in NZ

[ZeroID]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10764473

With a bit of luck more road lighting will go this way in the future and LP will not grow.

[Octane]

Just another reason to move over!

H

[Ric]

A good idea, I wonder if Australia will catch on to this.

[ZeroID]

Ah, it will be ages before it spreads but at least the trend is positive .... unless the pollies get a hold of it and deem it to dear ....

[h0ughy]

ahh yes busy traffic - two sheep and a possum......(oh dear now i am in for it)

Lighting codes for public roads in australia are set in the dark ages ;) with the lighting code adopted from the US and modified to become a standard lighting code for Australia and NZ. I personally would love it not to exist. As for the NZ folk - good on them and i hope it does bring some change. our Council spends over 4 million dollars a year on public lighting - if this was drastically reduced it would be good but the cost of the infrastructure change is prohibitive unless the public fork out a grant or programme to adopt new technology all over - small pockets like this test they did will do nothing long term unless they take it across all of the local government area.

[mithrandir]

Street lights get replaced over about a 10 year period, as more efficient ones are released (ie cost less to replace that the power bill for the existing ones), or they wear out and parts become unobtainable. As long as the replacements have better dispersion characteristics it will get better.

However I'm still on the lookout for flying pigs.

[TrevorW]

I've always wondered why lights on freeways where overhead an not at ground level to light just the road (could be built into kerbing)

[tlgerdes]

I would like to know why road tunnels are lit up like daylight as soon as it gets dark. I am not going to turn my lights off just becuse I have entered the tunnel.:shrug:

[TrevorW]

or why all street lights are on when there is little traffic, often you can see better at night when the roads are not lit

[Zaps]

So the white light in the picture is the new efficient LED? And yet in that image it's a horizontal glare bomb, even from a raised elevation. Isn't the whole point of efficient lighting to prevent the lamp being visible unless you're almost directly under it? Don't get me wrong, any attempt to improve cruddy (street) lighting is a great thing, but the key word there is "improve".

[ZeroID]

Lost Australians again ..... :D <ducks for cover>

We can sell a few of your possums back to you if you like, they breed like flies over here.

[brian nordstrom]

:eyepop: Ahhh and 1 yak! ,
The Canadians have it sorted , all street lights have light shrouds so the light is directed down where its needed ? ( wanted ? ) so the lights are 50% more efficient and we only need 1/2 of them , every body wins .:thumbsup:Brian. the X- Kiwi.

[SkyViking]

I noticed that article as well but actually got the opposite impression. Sounds more like they install more lighting, but of the new LED type.
Lighting up more areas, putting lights on landmarks etc. Not good for astronomy I think.
It's always good to save on energy but in the photo it looks like a lot of stray light goes everywhere... If a street light can be seen from anywhere else than underneath it then it's not properly shielded, and light pollution and energy waste occurs.

[pgc hunter]

In Melbourne, overhead gantry signs on freeways are lit from *below* and streetlights have a flower pot sized casing to protect the fully exposed bulb.

morons.

[ZeroID]

From what I read the lighting was dimmed for much of the night, reduced output although the spread was better it was also more directed downwards. Also no Sodium glare. Maybe I misread the gist of it.
Sounded better to me anyway.

[SkyViking]

Yeah it's good if they dim it though. But I just wonder if all the extra lighting they seem to want doesn't cancel it out?
Sodium light is pretty horrible, but at least a light pollution filter can get rid of the strongest emmission lines (not that I have one). I wonder how it would be if all the lights were broad spectrum white. I guess we'll have to wait and see. But I can't really imagine there will be less light output from cities in the future :(
Fortunately it's still pretty dark out in the Waitakeres :D

[Brundah1]

Look at the light flare in the photo, no shoud!

The Canadians have the correct answer, better efficiency is one thing, but reduced light polution / sky glow is something else.