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.