We recently talked about the City’s addition of an amber filter to LEDs and the impact it had on glare, color temperature, the reduction of damaging blue light, and the impact the filter has on luminosity in our blog post, Taking The City’s Color Temperature.
Nathan Dupre took a look at a few different filter options in this video, measuring color temperature (CCT) and luminosity as well as recording their color spectrum to see how they impact blue light. He compared two yellow and one amber filter provided by CW Energy Solutions and one light amber filter the City has been experimenting with.
Dr. Bob Adams, with C&W Energy Solutions, has been advising us on outdoor lighting issues. He will be in Ivins next week to meet with us, Mayor Hart, and City staff to discuss issues we should consider as we work on revisions to the City’s existing Outdoor Lighting Ordinance.
Blue Light Impairs Vision & Safety
Here is a 37 minute video of a presentation Dr. Adams gave a couple of years ago. If you don’t have time to watch it all, fast forward to the 14:00 minute mark and watch for 60 seconds.
Glare & Age
Do you have a couple more minutes? Fast forward to 18:00 minutes and watch until 20:30 minutes.
About Dr. Bob Adams
C&W Energy Solutions was formed in 2011 as a spin off from Chips and Wafers, Inc. (C&W), a company established by Dr. Robert Adams, PhD. in 1982. After graduating from Brown University, Dr. Adams joined Texas Instruments and then Motorola where he was involved in R&D for new LED and microwave devices.
C&W focuses on night friendly / environmentally friendly LED technology for street lighting and other outdoor applications. The company website: www.cwenergyusa.com
Based on previous meetings with City staff, we prepared a 40-page report recommending changes to the City’s Outdoor Lighting Ordinance and presented it to the City at the beginning of March.
Rob Roush, developer of the proposed Red Desert subdivision in Ivins, has been working with us to create his subdivision’s CC&Rs that meet our vision and significantly exceed what the City’s Outdoor Lighting Ordinance currently requires. We were delighted to review his filed CC&Rs on March 5th.
On March 7th, the City Council sent our report to the City’s Technical Review Committee for its recommendations before sending it to the Planning Commission for a public hearing and recommendation.
During March, our Technical Committee analyzed most of the City-owned outdoor lighting and a sampling of commercial outdoor lighting to help determine appropriate recommendations for changes to the City’s Outdoor Lighting Ordinance. Our Technical Committee will continue to analyze issues the City needs more information on.
The Events Committee met three times in March to plan two April events: (1) A presentation at Red Mountain Resort on April 24th, and (2) an information table and street art sponsorship at the Kayenta Street Painting Festival on April 27th and 28th.
In addition to our four-person board of Directors and four technical advisors, the Initiative now has 21 volunteers working on our Events and Technical committees. That sounds like a lot and it is… but we need as much help as we can get. So, let us know if you can share some of your time and expertise.
On March 21st, the Mayor and City Council took time to formally recognize and congratulate the student artists who won the competition we sponsored, for their paintings interpreting the night sky over Ivins. The five winning paintings were on display at City Hall for most of March.
On March 26th we received 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status by the IRS.
We conducted our second comprehensive night sky survey in Ivins on March 30th at nine locations. these surveys compare the quality of our night sky at various locations. More importantly, the surveys will track the health of the night sky over time:
Is it improving or deteriorating? General population growth will likely cause it to deteriorate. But implementing better lighting practices, putting light where it is needed for us on the ground rather than spreading it skyward, can slow or even reverse that deterioration.
The readings shown in the table and graph below are averages from our December and March surveys of the brightness of the sky in units commonly accepted by the astronomical community (magnitudes per arc second).
The chart shows the averages for nine locations in Ivins. Lower numbers mean a brighter sky, and the scale is logarithmic where 1 step (eg. 19 to 20) represents a brightness difference of 2.5 times.
That means the night sky above the Southern Utah Veterans Home (site 9) is more than twice as bight as the sky above the northwest area of Kayenta (site 7).
As you would expect, there is considerable variation in the darkness of the night sky across Ivins. The differences are due only to artificial lighting and not to any circumstances beyond our control. Yes, we are impacted by our neighbors, particularly St. George and Santa Clara. But this survey shows that a lot of the brightness in our night sky is generated right here in Ivins.
The 20.5 average for Ivins indicates we can see about 3,000 stars with the naked eye. If readings drop to 19, we would only be able to see about 800 stars, at most. If it drops to 18, a common reading in many cities, we would only see about 400 stars. That could happen to us.
A growing population in Ivins and surrounding communities will push us in that direction. And adding poorly designed outdoor lighting will get us there faster. That takes a lot of awe and wonderment out of the sky, not much of a legacy to leave for future generations. On the flip side, if we could improve outdoor lighting, we might bring back some of the darker skies we used to have. Or at least protect what we have now. Don’t we owe that to our children, grandchildren, and future generations?
What if we could improve the quality of our night sky? A reading of 21.5 means we would be able to see more than 5,000 stars with the naked eye. Look up on the next clear night and try to imagine seeing those many stars instead of what we can see now, or the 400 we might be leaving our children with.
Fortunately, there are solutions. We discuss those in our Position Paper (see the link above). And we’re doing more than talking about solutions. We’re working on them. Look at the “Activities” menu for current projects we are working on.
If you would like to get involved in this or any other projects, let us know. Send us an email from the Contact us page.
Technical notes: We made measurements using the SQM-L Sky Quality Meter by Unihedron. This is a narrow cone, sensitive low-level light meter recommended by the International Dark Sky Association. It is Model No. _2.18, Serial No. 7914. We followed approved methodology, taking three readings at each site and averaged the results.
The City recently installed some outdoor LED lighting with a color temperature of 3,000k. That meets the minimum requirement of the International Dark Sky Association (IDA), but it is still a pretty bright white light compared to High Pressure Sodium lighting, because of the amount of blue light generated.
The lens creates a warmer yellow to orange light, essentially turning the LED into a “filtered” LED (FLED).
We wanted to see how effective the amber lens is at reducing blue light. That’s the part of the light spectrum that creates problems. So, Nathan Dupre and Paul Andrews spent a few nights collecting, among other things, the color temperature of lights around Ivins, with and without the amber lens. Then Nathan downloaded the results and analyzed them. Here’s a look at some of his findings.
The charts below show that the amber lens almost completely eliminates the blue portion of the spectrum and most of the green as well for all types of lighting. Eliminating blue goes a long way towards reducing glare and creates a warmer, healthier, more comfortable light.
High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lights have very little blue in their spectrum, even without the amber lens. The color temperature of the HPS lights Nathan measured were around 1,800k. Adding the amber lens didn’t do much, because there is so little blue in the spectrum anyway. For example, one light he tested dropped from 1,800k to 1,630k when the amber lens was used.
This warm light has been a common outdoor lighting source for decades. But because they are much less energy efficient than LEDs, they are gradually being phased out all around the country. The result is that the warm outdoor lighting we have been used to seeing for decades is being replaced by colder, whiter LEDs that create all kinds of problems.
Although LEDs are much more energy efficient, that benefit comes at a cost. They pump out a lot of blue light. Lower color temperatures generate less blue, but all “untreated” LEDs produce blue light. The LED in the chart above has a color temperature of close to 4,000k. When you add the amber lens the temperature drops to just 1,800k.
The addition of the amber lens creates a warmer light with less glare and virtually eliminates harmful blue light. That sounds terrific, so what’s the catch?
An Illuminating Study
In addition to measuring the color temperature of city lighting, Nathan also measured the illumination of the lights, with and without the amber lens. He found that adding the lens to High Pressure Sodium lights did not reduce illumination very much because this light doesn’t have much blue in its spectrum to begin with. So although the amber lens does not reduce illumination very much, there’s really no added value from using the lens because there’s not much blue light to deal with.
But LEDs are a different matter. They have a lot of blue light which the amber lens eliminates. The lens we were using also eliminates a lot of the green portion of the spectrum. The result is the amber lens cuts illumination almost in half.
Using a lens to modify the color temperature of LEDs and reduce blue light is a good solution and a worthy goal. We’ve just started to research the illumination issue, but it appears it is possible to filter the LED to achieve that goal but maintain 80% to 90% of the illumination. That would be ideal.
We plan to run some tests on possible solutions in the next week and will let you know what we find. Nathan’s research turned up some other important information. We will share these issues later this week in another posting.
Join us
We have lot more research planned, so if you would like to join our Technical Committee we would appreciate the extra brainpower. Just send us an email from the Contact Us page.
Last night the Ivins City Council honored the five winners of the Vista School art contest held last month for Eva Lorentzen’s 6th through 8th grade students. The contest, sponsored by the Ivins Night Sky Initiative, challenged students to paint their interpretation of the night sky over Ivins. The contest was professionally judged by Steven Stradley, the Visual Arts Instructor at Tuacahn High School.
Mayor Hart asked the students to talk about what inspired them to create their interpretation of the night sky over Ivins.
Mayor Hart asked the students to tell the Council and audience what inspired them to create the art they did for the contest.
Shown here, from left to right, are Faith Olson, the second
place winner, Juniper McCowan, the first place winner, and their teacher, Eva
Lorentzen.
On display at City Hall
The other winners were Acelin Smith, 3rd place; with merit awards to Orion Hansen and Emmalani Gent. Their paintings are currently on display at City Hall.
Events Committee members at today’s planning meeting: Paul Andrews, Michael Barton, Marc Deshowitz, Sarah Dupre, Chris Haddad, Alison Holland, Lynne Johnson, Dan Krupicka, Sally Tom, Terre Wilson, and Vicki Wilson. All board members also participated: Patty Dupre, Sue Gordhammer, Kai Reed, and Mike Scott.
Members broke out into three groups at today’s meeting to finalize plans for the Initiative’s first major public event, an evening presentation at Red Mountain Resort on April 24th.
Join us
Our next meeting will be on March 26th from 1-3pm. We welcome your involvement. For more information, send us an email from the Contact Us page.
Attend our events
If you would like information about upcoming events, send us an email from the Contact Us page.
A project started by two Ivins residents in January to
improve, preserve, and protect the night sky over Ivins and get the City officially
designated as a Dark Sky Community
has grown quickly. Now, barely two months later, the Ivins Night Sky Initiative is a Utah nonprofit corporation, has a four-person
board of directors, ten volunteers, four technical advisors, and some funding
to sponsor community events and selected night sky friendly retrofit
demonstration projects.
City Council Acts
And they are already getting results. At the last
Ivins City Council meeting, the Council agreed to review the draft outdoor
lighting ordinance submitted by the Initiative and pursue designation from the International Dark Sky Association (IDA)
as a Dark Sky Community.
Adam Dalton, the Dark Sky Places
Program Manager at IDA, commented that, “Things are moving really quickly. It
is fantastic to see the progress the Initiative is making; their passion and
organization skills are clearly evident.”
The Initiative’s 40-page draft ordinance will now go to the City’s
Technical Review Committee (TRC) before heading to the Planning Commission and
public hearings. The Initiative’s
Technical Committee is working on several research reports to help the TRC
evaluate the proposed ordinance.
Mike Scott, the Initiative’s president, said, “The draft
not only includes requirements set out by the IDA, it also incorporates a
number of best practice additions we discovered while reviewing about a dozen
other ordinances passed in the past few years by other communities, mostly in
the Southwest.”
Students
to be Honored this Week
As for community outreach, the Initiative recently sponsored a student
art contest at Vista School, with awards for the best interpretation of the
night sky over Ivins. The Mayor and City Council invited the five winners to
its next meeting this Thursday, March 21st to formally honor the students
for their vision and interest in the night sky. Their artwork is currently on
display at City Hall.
Interpreting the night sky over Ivins, by Faith Olson, Grade 8
But
Wait… There’s More Coming
That’s just the beginning according to Patty Dupre, a founding director of the Initiative. She says, “Our new Events Committee is working on two exciting events for April, and more after that. We will post information about the April events on our website at IvinsNightSky.org next week.”
Second, join us. We need help and expertise on organizing events and conducting research on outdoor lighting issues important to Ivins. To learn more about getting involved, either a little or a lot, contact us.
Last night the Ivins City Council agreed to review the city’s outdoor lighting ordinance. The goal: Make changes to meet the requirements of the International Dark Sky Association and pursue designation as a Dark Sky Community.
The next step will be a detailed review by the City’s Technical Review Committee of the 40 page draft ordinance we have submitted. Compared to the current 15 page ordinance, there are clearly a lot of additions we’re recommending. But some of the 40 pages involve discussion of options.
The Technical Review Committee will probably need a couple of months to finish its review. Then a draft ordinance would go to the Planning Commission for its review and a public hearing. Finally it will head to City Council for its turn at reviewing the draft, holding another public hearing, and making a final decision.
