Been reminded to update you guys on the LED street lighting trials in Brisbane when I got a letter back from city council thanking me for writing in (but with a canned response that doesn't give much more indicating on what they plan to do... well, at least the mayor actually signed it with a pen).
Basically the vibe we got from the crazy meeting/panel discussion/debate at one of the Brisbane Astronomical Association meeting few months back was that they have heard all the concerns, seemed interested, or acted interested, and the council/Energex reps went back to report the findings, and got stonewalled by their superiors who have already decided that they want those glaring LED full spectrum bulbs regardless, and the trials are just for show.
Really, why do we bother anymore?
*cancels order for light pollution filters and makes plans for moving to the middle of the desert*
Quote:
From Ken Wishaw of Sunshine Coast Dark Sky Association:
https://www.facebook.com/SunshineCoa...ers.Australia/
Light pollution update.
Bad News.
As many of you may know this Facebook page was set up in part to raise awareness of the problem of light pollution.
You may also know that the impact of artificial light at night has been my topic of research at university.
Part of my research was to evaluate the Sunshine Coast Council Urban lighting Master Plan, which I believe is perhaps the best i have seen anywhere in the world.
It involved the council taking over streetlighting and replacing the present outdated system with modern, smart LED lighting that complied with the standards of the international Dark Sky Association.
As planned it would have led to safer, better quality lighting, dramatically reduced light pollution and up to a 50% reduction in power requirements.
https://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au...ng-Master-Plan
All other councils in South East Queensland (with the exception of Brisbane City Council) declared their desire to adopt the plan and jointly they submitted a joint proposal to implement the plan across the entire region.
http://lgaq.asn.au/news-in-brief/-/a...viewMode=print
So it is pretty disappointing to see that the Queensland Government and Energex have rejected the proposal.
In a letter dated 19 May to the Local Government Association of Queensland, Energy Queensland CEO David Smales said, “I see street lights as assets that will remain with Energy Queensland as a Government Owned Corporation.”
To date our discussions with Energex and their insight into the problem have been far from encouraging and a significant increase in light pollution for South East Queensland could be imminent.
I would like to believe that education rather than confrontation is the way forward, so today I wrote an invitation (sent by registered snail mail) to David Smales for him and his colleagues to come and enjoy the night sky at Maleny and see why we feel the way we do.
Our Facebook group is non political but will fight for dark skies as necessary.
I will keep you posted, and call on your support as necessary.
Ken
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