Category: Light trespass

Talking about color temperature raises everyone’s temperature

Should Ivins increase the permitted color temperature for outdoor lights from 2200K for city streetlights, city bollards, and new commercial and 2700K for new residential properties to 4000K for everything? Should Ivins treat all new commercial, new residential, and city streetlights the same or set separate color temperatures for each of these three uses: streetlights and bollards, new commercial properties, and new residential?

People opposed to colder, whiter 4000K lights express concerns about glare and harshness. People opposed to the warmer light from 2000K – 2700K lights express concerns about safety. Safety is important. But a discussion about safety should be based on standards rather than arbitrary opinions. Research by Kathy Barth shows that Ivins is not less safe than other areas.

What does color temperature look like in real life?

We used a professional spectrometer to measure the color temperature of commercial lights in Ivins so we can visualize what the numbers “look like” in real life. I won’t bore you with the dozens of readings we took from around the city.

Instead, an easy side-by-side comparison of the two extremes is Rocky Vista University and the Crimson Cliffs Student Housing next door. Rocky Vista University’s parking lot lights are 4000K LEDs but have amber filters which lowers the color temperature to approximately 2200K. The Crimson Cliffs Student Housing parking lot lights are unfiltered 4000K LEDs.

Amber filters used in Ivins City streetlights and bollards and installed at Rocky Vista University

Other commercial properties have lights near 2200K even though they were added when 4000K was allowed. And others have 4000K lights, which were allowed when they were put in and continue to be allowed, or grandfathered, regardless of changes to the Lighting Ordinance.

50 years of peace and then…

Everything was fine in Ivins for decades. Problems started appearing about four years ago.

  • 1970 – 2017: High-pressure sodium (HPS) lights were used for streetlights and parking lots. Their color temperature is approximately 1900K.
  • ­2017: Ivins started replacing HPS streetlights with 4000K LEDs. The Lighting Ordinance permitted color temperatures up to 4000K. There were a lot of complaints. Solution: The City added amber filters, reducing the color temperature to approximately 2200K.
  • 2019: Rocky Vista University had 4000K parking lot lights. Neighbors complained about the harsh white light and glare. Solution: The University approved adding filters, paid for and installed by local residents, reducing the color temperature to about 2200K. 
  • 2019: Because of the problems encountered in the prior couple of years, the City changed the Lighting Ordinance, lowering outdoor lighting color temperatures, for new construction only, to 2200K for commercial and 2700K for residential properties.

Placement versus intensity

When the filters were added at Rocky Vista University, a couple of areas were not illuminated ideally. But these same areas were a problem before adding the filters because pole placement was not ideal. Determining appropriate placement for lighting is just as important for ensuring safety, if not more so. So maybe the safety issue is really about the proper placement of lighting rather than the intensification of light.

So what’s the big deal?

Ivins is blessed to have Red Mountain block light from any source along its entire northern border. Increasing the color temperature to 4000K interferes with the beautiful dark skies we have now.  Past installations of 4000K lights resulted in an outcry to lower the harsh, glaring white light. Why repeat past mistakes?

The population of Ivins doubled since 2000 and is expected to double again in just over 20 years. What will our night sky look like with twice the light pollution we have today? Will there be nothing left to see for our children to be inspired by, marvel at, and cherish? Will the wonderment of the night sky be just a distant faded memory for those of us who were once lucky enough to gaze upon it? We can’t let that become our fate.

Rocky Vista University installs anti-glare shields and blue light filters

We just installed anti-glare shields and blue light filters on 8 parking lot lights at Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

This demonstration project is a study the University is conducting, sponsored by the Ivins Night Sky Initiative, to see if the shields and filters can be effectively retrofitted into existing lighting to reduce glare and blue light emissions while meeting the university’s need to provide nighttime safety for their students.

The new anti-glare shields and blue light filters
This nighttime view shows the glare reduction provided by the new shields on the pole at the left compared to the light pole at right which doesn’t have the anti-glare shield.

Glare

The City has long required outdoor lighting to be fully shielded, meaning light fixtures can’t aim light up into the sky. But even fully shielded fixtures send light out horizontally as well as down. That not only wastes light by sending it where it isn’t needed, it creates a glare problem.

Our technical Committee came up with a way to reduce glare significantly while still providing adequate lighting where it’s needed; on the ground.

This is a screenshot of one of the Technical Committee’s analysis to determine the appropriate design for an anti-glare shield
The new anti-glare shield (top) mounted to one of the University’s fixtures

Blue light

LED lighting is quickly replacing High Pressure Sodium lights and other older technologies because LEDs are so much more energy efficient. You can easily spot the difference. The older technologies produce a softer, warmer, more comfortable light compared to the bright white light from LEDs. That’s because LEDs emit a lot of blue light while the older technologies emit very little, if any blue light.

Blue light rays have short wavelengths just above ultraviolet light. We’ve known for a long time that ultraviolet light can be harmful. It can burn. That’s why we wear sunscreen. We’re learning that too much blue light can also be harmful.

  • The blue part of the light spectrum is responsible for creating most of the glare we see. Glare constricts your pupils, diminishing your eyes’ ability to adapt to low-light conditions, like nighttime.
  • Scientists are just beginning to understand the negative impacts on health, including blue light’s contribution to cardiovascular disease, sleep, metabolic and immunological disorders, obesity, cancer, macular degeneration, glaucoma, and more.
  • And blue light is disruptive to plants, animals, crop pollination, and on and on.

Blue light filters

Ivins City has found a way to use LED technology but take out most of the blue light. That eliminates the added health and safety risks from LEDs compared to older technologies and results in a warmer, more pleasing light.

The University’s study will help others determine the feasibility of retrofitting their own lighting to reduce blue light and glare. It will also help the city in its efforts to get designated as a Dark Sky Community by the International Dark Sky Association.

Ivins & Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine Take the Lead in Improving Nighttime Health & Safety

The Ivins City Council took groundbreaking action this evening on what we believe to be the lead nationally in dramatically improving nighttime health and safety for Ivins residents with changes to its outdoor lighting ordinance.

The Ivins City Council gets an overview of the recommendations for changes to the city’s Outdoor Lighting Ordinance from Mike Scott with the Ivins Night Sky Initiative.

The city now requires that the maximum color temperature for all new outdoor non-residential lighting is 3,000 degrees Kelvin, down from 4,000. But more importantly, these new lights will be required to add amber filters the city designed that effectively reduces the color temperature to about 2,200 degrees Kelvin, eliminating almost all the blue light emitted by LEDs that creates safety and health problems. Outdoor lighting for new residential development will be limited to no more than 2,700 degrees Kelvin.

Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine (RVUCOM) is going even further.

The city’s new requirements only affect new construction, but RVUCOM has begun a study sponsored by the Ivins Night Sky Initiative to see if these new requirements can be effectively retrofitted into existing lighting while continuing to meet the university’s need to provide nighttime safety for their students. The study will also look for a solution to another problem magnified by LEDs: unwanted glare.

Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Ivins campus.

The City has long required outdoor lighting to be fully shielded, meaning light fixtures can’t aim light up into the sky. But even fully shielded fixtures send light out horizontally as well as down. That not only wastes light by sending it where it isn’t needed, it creates a glare problem.

RVUCOM’s study will help others determine the feasibility of retrofitting their own lighting to reduce blue light and glare. It will also help the city in its efforts to get designated as a Dark Sky Community by the International Dark Sky Association.

What’s the big deal?

LED lighting is quickly replacing High Pressure Sodium lights and other older technologies because LEDs are so much more energy efficient. You can easily spot the difference. The older technologies produce a softer, warmer, more comfortable light compared to the bright white light from LEDs. That’s because LEDs emit a lot of blue light while the older technologies emit very little, if any blue light.

Blue light rays have short wavelengths just above ultraviolet light. We’ve known for a long time that ultraviolet light can be harmful. It can burn. That’s why we wear sunscreen. We’re learning that too much blue light can also be harmful.

  • The blue part of the light spectrum is responsible for creating most of the glare we see. Glare constricts your pupils, diminishing your eyes’ ability to adapt to low-light conditions, like nighttime.
  • Scientists are just beginning to understand the negative impacts on health, including blue light’s contribution to cardiovascular disease, sleep, metabolic and immunological disorders, obesity, cancer, macular degeneration, glaucoma, and more.
  • And blue light is disruptive to plants, animals, crop pollination, and on and on.

How does the Ivins solution work?

Ivins City has found a way to use LED technology but take out most of the blue light. That eliminates the added health and safety risks from LEDs compared to older technologies and results in a warmer, more pleasing light.

Wilson Jimenez, the Ivins City employee who came up with the filter, finishes installing the prototype anti-glare shield on a light fixture for Rocky Vista University along with the three anti-blue spectrum filters.
Alan Koharcheck and Tim Povlick, members of the Ivins Night Sky Initiative, in the City’s shop with Wilson Jimenez making a final check of the prototype before unveiling it to the University.
Ivins Mayor Chris Hart shows the finished prototype to Kristine Jenkins , Rocky Vista University’s Director of Campus Operations and Terry Meyer, Manager of Public Safety and Security.
Tim Povlick, a member of the Ivins Night Sky Initiative’s Technical Committee, tests the finished prottype anti-glare shield.

For more information about the progress of this study, blue light health and safety issues, or other information about outdoor lighting, contact us or visit their website at IvinsNightSky.org. The Ivins Night Sky Initiative is a 100% volunteer, not for profit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, citizen organization. Also visit the International Dark Sky Association’s website at www.darksky.org.  For more information regarding Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine please visit the website at http://www.rvu.edu/.

Add your comments

Please post your comments using the form at the bottom of this article. We would like to get your views about this article and about our Initiative.

Join us

Let us know if this Initiative is important to you, if you are willing to get involved, and what else you think we should be doing to improve, preserve, and protect the night skies in Ivins.

Just because we have submitted recommendations for changes to the city’s Outdoor Lighting Ordinance doesn’t mean we’re done. Far from it. Seriously, far from it! We can really use your talent and energy to make our Initiative’s vision and goals a reality.

Email us and we will get back to you right away.

Taking the bite out of a cobra

An Ivins resident contacted us in February asking for help solving a light trespass problem he has that is caused by a City cobra streetlight like the one shown here. The light is on all night and is located right outside his bedroom window.

We contacted the City and suggested additional shielding to stop the light trespass onto the resident’s property, like what the Santa Clara Harmons did on some of its parking lot lights that were affecting neighboring homes. Here’s a photo of one of the shielded lights.

Alternately, we suggested removing the light completely or turning it off. It is located mid-block, not at an intersection, and the Ivins streetlighting ordinance does not require mid-block streetlights unless there is a crosswalk. There is no crosswalk, and none planned. The utility company charges the City for removals, so there’s a budget issue.

The City’s Public Works Director agreed that the City’s mid-block streetlights are unnecessary and developed a plan to remove them. He did not like the idea of turning off the streetlight because then people call the city to let him know a light is burned out.

Also, we did our own research and were told by Dave Imlay, the Director of Hurricane Power, that he believes a city does not have liability concerns if there is no light but does have liability concerns if there is a light, but it is not working. That left shielding or removal as the only options.

At the beginning of June, the City had the cobra streetlight removed, solving the resident’s light trespass problem and reducing (admittedly minimally) the lumen output of the city.

The cobra streetlight next to Gordon’s house was taken down in June.

Technical Committee designs anti-glare shield

The Technical Committee met yesterday to discuss the International Dark Sky Association’s requirements for designation as a Dark Sky Community, tying in with the business support efforts launched this past weekend by Tim Povlick and Lois Diehl, developing a worksheet to analyze Nathan Dupre’s research of existing city-owned and commercial lighting.

Most of the meeting, however, focused on reviewing a design prepared by Mike Barton and Alan Koharcheck of a prototype anti-glare shield that could be easily added to existing light fixtures. Committee members then developed a plan to create a demonstration project using the anti-glare shield to determine if the shield will achieve the results the members expect, the elimination of off-site glare and light-trespass.

Five of the seven member of the Technical Committee discuss the design of an anti-glare shield. From left to right: Nathan Dupre, Marty Spahr, Alan Koharcheck, Michael Barton, and Tim Povlick. Missing from the photo: Paul Andrews and Dan Krupicka.

Let us know if this Initiative is important to you, if you are willing to get involved, and what else you think we should be doing to improve, preserve, and protect dark skies in Ivins. We will get back to you as soon as possible.

When You Have a Problem With Your Neighbor’s Lighting

Many of us have experienced this scenario: a neighbor has an unshielded fixture that casts a bright light that spills onto your property and perhaps even inside your home.

This is known as light trespass and it can cause a lot of agony and frustration. Although we don’t get involved in neighbor disputes, we have provided this resource that we hope will help you resolve your problem.

To be fair, your neighbor may not even realize that their unshielded lighting is shining on your property, wasting energy, money and creating a safety hazard.

Step 1: Is the light bothering you a violation?

The first thing to do is some research to find out if the light that is a problem for you is actually in violation of the Ivins Outdoor Lighting Ordinance. (Click here to download the Ivins City ordinance.)

Step 2: Is the light grandfathered?

If it appears the neighbor’s light is not permitted in the ordinance, it still may be permitted because there is usually a grandfathering provision exempting lighting that was in place before the ordinance was passed. The current ordinance was passed in 2007.

Step 3: If it is a violation, talk to your neighbor

Don’t hesitate to ask your neighbor for their advice or opinion in solving the problem. Goodwill goes a long way.

Many people believe that more and brighter lighting makes us safer, but there is no conclusive evidence suggesting that’s true. In fact, glare from unshielded lights can create harsh shadows where criminals can hide. And bright lighting can even make it easier for criminals to work.

See Increase Safety While Being a Good Neighbor.

So, how do you talk to your neighbor about this situation?

We suggest taking the following steps to educate your neighbor, and by extension your community, about the value of dark sky friendly lighting.

Practical Actions:

  1. Make friends, not enemies. Your neighbors probably don’t even realize their lighting is bothersome.
  2. Stay positive and don’t argue. Be tactful and understanding about your neighbor’s right to light their property.
  3. Suggest alternatives to their current fixture. Ask them to move the light, shield it, or add a motion sensor so it’s activated only when needed. Offer to help get this done. (Check back: we will be providing information about alternatives soon.)
  4. Be informative. Talking to your neighbor is an great opportunity to be an advocate for good lighting. There are many reasons to use dark sky friendly lighting. Read up on the issues regarding light pollution. In addition to the articles on the “Information” section of our website, the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) also has a number of educational resources that can be useful.
  5. It’s useful to know the local costs of electricity and the savings your neighbor may be able to realize. (Check back: We will upload a spreadsheet calculator soon.)
  6. You may also want to compile a list of local businesses or homes in the neighborhood with good quality lighting as an example of effective security measures that are dark sky friendly. (Check back: We will be providing examples soon.)
  7. Having a list of shielded light fixtures to provide as alternatives to your neighbor’s current lighting is also recommended. Use the IDA Fixture Seal of Approval database to find dark sky friendly fixtures and devices.
  8. Don’t dismiss their need to feel safe. Remember that home is a place where everyone wants to feel relaxed and safe.
  9. Explain that light trespass is a form of light pollution.
  10. Remember that everyone wants the same thing: a chance to relax in his or her own environment. Work together to create an atmosphere that benefits the community
  11. Write a letter. You may find it useful to put your thoughts on paper. We have provided a Sample Letter to Your Neighbor to get you started.

Step 4: Talk to us

We don’t get involved in neighbor-to-neighbor disputes, but if you have completed the first three steps above and have not resolved the problem, tell us about everything you did. We may be able to point you towards additional existing resources, or create some new information that could be useful.

If you were successful in resolving the problem, we want to hear about it. Tell us what the problem was and what you and your neighbor did to fix it. Your story, told anonymously, will help others.

Step 5: Talk to the City

If you are unable to resolve the problem after taking all of the actions above, then talk to the City. A lighting ordinance isn’t very useful if it’s not enforced. But it is important to be able to demonstrate to the City, (a) why it is a violation, and (b) all the steps you took in an effort to cooperatively resolve the problem with your neighbor.

Ivins light Pollution

The map below shows 2018 VIIRS data for Ivins and nearby communities. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is one of the key instruments onboard the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) spacecraft, which was successfully launched on October 28, 2011. The interactive map is at www.lightpollutionmap.info.

Interpreting the map colors

As the map gets closer to red, the ability to see the Milky Way starts to disappear. It is visible in areas shaded yellow, but lacks detail.