Worsening Sydney light pollution highlighted in Sydney Morning Herald article

gary · #1 06-01-2013, 01:02 AM

An article appears today in the Sydney Morning Herald by Nicole Hasham
highlighting the worsening light pollution in Sydney. It quotes Sydney Observatory's
Nick Lomb who is calling for a revision of the Australian Standards for outdoor lighting
now that LED lights have become more common.

Ken Petersen commented on how residential lighting was a growing problem
with light spillage occuring from neighboring properties.

Article here -
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/ci...105-2c9ta.html

skysurfer · #2 06-01-2013, 01:19 AM

Good article !

Despite Australia being the darkest (except Antarctica) continent of all this is bad news. Please keep Australia dark !
When you are 100km outside SYD (e.g. the Blue Mountains) it is pitch dark.
About the residental lighting: that is a problem easy to solve. I have three outdoor lamps in my garden (pointing downward) which work on a motion detector and then keep on for 5 minutes, so normally they are off. When I go to observe, I turn off the main switch of it to prevent switching on when walking through my garden.
http://pix.skysurfer.eu/outdoorlight.jpg
When everyone has a motion detector the sky would be a lot darker as the lights are only on when needed.

This link reveals the global light pollution in a Google Maps style.
LED lighting is in many cases an improvement as they direct the light more downward. Here we have LED streetlamps of which one shines a bit into my garden but lots less than before last summer when there was a fluorescent tube in it.

http://www.blue-marble.de/nightlights/2012

Here in Holland it is one of the most light polluted areas in the world beside Guangzhou/Hongkong or Shanghai while the rest of China is relatively dark compared to W-Europe or eastern N-America.

midnight (Darrin) · #3 06-01-2013, 02:38 AM

I do some lighting designs for industrial installations and generally we conduct a lux study with selected light models.

One problem that I believe is not being addressed is the specifications written by those who are directed by "safety". This often appears in specifications that require road lighting and area lighting often exceeding 10 x the Australian standard. Then as soon as a stair is encountered, the lux levels go through the roof.

Finally from my past experience, the inspector arrives and places the lux meter at the back far corner and then we find the lux is say 195 when the minimum is 200. The centre of the stair will be around 280 to 300. Then the light has to move or worse still, the fitting uprated to comply. I shake my head sometimes! No wonder many projects are lit up like a Christmas tree. But the inspector has a legal obligation and if some one falls over, then it becomes an OHS matter with all sorts of possible legal issues.

It's not just domestic, but industry that needs to be on board. The Australian Standard should have stricter upper limits and more emphasis on directional lighting which I believe the news articles point toward. One only needs to fly into a major city and see that domestic lighting is only a small contributer compared to industry and road lighting.

Hopefully light polllution can be truly seen as just that - pollution.

Darrin...

JB80 (Jarrod) · #4 06-01-2013, 03:46 AM

Shame there is no comments on the article because it's the sort of thing that needs to show that their is support for.
Still it's a nice little article and at least the problem is being acknowledged.
I imagine it's something most people are oblivious to.

Like skysurfer I live in that horrid mess of LP in Benelux and it must never be allowed to get that bad in Australia.
Even the attitude of people towards the lights are different, they are proud of it. It's seen as a sign of prosperity, you better believe we need all 5 of those mini sols to illuminate our garden.
I can't even turn them off so I have to tie towels around the sensors.

So yeah, please don't let Oz get like this ever.
I like to show this, the red arrow indicates me. Hopefully it makes some feel a bit better.

mithrandir (Andrew) · #5 06-01-2013, 03:18 PM

That's the second time Ken (solissydney) has been quoted in a week on light pollution. The other one was about ground lighting at a field for Canada Bay Council.
We had dinner down at Circular Quay West last night and "Voyager of the Seas" was lit up like a suburb full of Xmas lights. iPhone AutoStitch doesn't really cope with low light.

Darrin, is on the right track and that is the line Ken pushes. We need better light, not more.

RB (Andrew) · #6 06-01-2013, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mithrandir

We had dinner down at Circular Quay West last night and "Voyager of the Seas" was lit up like a suburb full of Xmas lights. iPhone AutoStitch doesn't really cope with low light.

So, are you saying that the Light Pollution wasn't enough for the iPhone?

mithrandir (Andrew) · #7 06-01-2013, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RB

So, are you saying that the Light Pollution wasn't enough for the iPhone?

Iphone cam was happy. AutoStitch wasn't. I'd need to upgrade to a 4S or 5 or use the iPad to get panorama mode in the Camera app.

I tried to sweep from the bridge to "das boot". The center section was dark enough that they wouldn't join. SWMBO gets shirty when I try to take the a77 when we go to dinner. This was a bit earlier.

Larryp (Laurie) · #8 06-01-2013, 04:13 PM

It's amazing how many people think that leaving external lights on improves their security!

RB (Andrew) · #9 06-01-2013, 04:31 PM

It's depressing to see how bad it's gotten.
Up here on the Central Coast we can really notice the increase in LP from Sydney and Gosford areas.

mithrandir (Andrew) · #10 06-01-2013, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RB

It's depressing to see how bad it's gotten.
Up here on the Central Coast we can really notice the increase in LP from Sydney and Gosford areas.

If you take the tour into the main dome at Coonabarabran they have a 360° panorama on the wall taken from outside the building. The positions of Sydney, Newcastle and a few other places are marked and you can see the light domes over all of them.

chappo001 (Mike) · #11 07-01-2013, 08:03 PM

If anyone is keen on doing something to act on Light Pollution then you could always join Sydney Outdoor Lighting Improvement Society (SOLIS) http:www.solis.org . If you think SOLIS is too Sydney centric then you could form your own local group, SOLIS can always offer advice.

In the long run it is likely that the starry sky over Sydney will be lost. The impact of lighting will increase despite any controls, the controls if introduced will slow the loss of a starry sky and give impetus to those outside of Sydney to also retain a starry sky. Even those revered Dark Sky locations will be effected - don't think it won't happen. I recently heard that it is no longer possible in the USA to find a location from which human produced light is not visible.

Don't think there is nothing you can do. Watch your local council for DA's or reviews of DCP's, that's when you can make a submission that they must read. Follow SOLIS on Twitter @SOLIS_Syd or Like our Facebook page.

I have a copy of a film "The City Dark" I could organise a screening if there is interest, it's an early copy and runs for 90 mins - gets a bit boring in parts, it is comprehensive on the topic of Light Pollution.

gary · #12 07-01-2013, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chappo001

If anyone is keen on doing something to act on Light Pollution then you could always join Sydney Outdoor Lighting Improvement Society (SOLIS) http:www.solis.org . If you think SOLIS is too Sydney centric then you could form your own local group, SOLIS can always offer advice.

In the long run it is likely that the starry sky over Sydney will be lost. The impact of lighting will increase despite any controls, the controls if introduced will slow the loss of a starry sky and give impetus to those outside of Sydney to also retain a starry sky. Even those revered Dark Sky locations will be effected - don't think it won't happen. I recently heard that it is no longer possible in the USA to find a location from which human produced light is not visible.

Don't think there is nothing you can do. Watch your local council for DA's or reviews of DCP's, that's when you can make a submission that they must read. Follow SOLIS on Twitter @SOLIS_Syd or Like our Facebook page.

I have a copy of a film "The City Dark" I could organise a screening if there is interest, it's an early copy and runs for 90 mins - gets a bit boring in parts, it is comprehensive on the topic of Light Pollution.

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the post and welcome to IceInSpace.

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Mount Kuring-Gai NSW 2080

Irish stargazer (John) · #13 07-01-2013, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skysurfer

Good article !

Despite Australia being the darkest (except Antarctica) continent of all this is bad news. Please keep Australia dark !
When you are 100km outside SYD (e.g. the Blue Mountains) it is pitch dark.
Here in Holland it is one of the most light polluted areas in the world beside Guangzhou/Hongkong or Shanghai while the rest of China is relatively dark compared to W-Europe or eastern N-America.

These days you need to drive for about 1.5-2 hours to get to a really dark sky outside of Sydney it is so bad. It restricts your deep sky observing to the weekends if you live near the city. However, having seen the night sky in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Holland, it really isnt so bad here.

mithrandir (Andrew) · #14 07-01-2013, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chappo001

If anyone is keen on doing something to act on Light Pollution then you could always join Sydney Outdoor Lighting Improvement Society (SOLIS) http:www.solis.org . If you think SOLIS is too Sydney centric then you could form your own local group, SOLIS can always offer advice.

Mike, you've left off the .au - http://www.solis.org.au/