Lights

"Starlord" ha scritto nel messaggio
...

I will be there and I want to have some good ideas on hand to give to them
to
save money...

Good job, Starlord. I know you haven't much time to get ready, but if you
could have a look on our site http://www.cielobuio.org you'll find a nice
leaflet (http://www.vialattea.net/cielobuio/s...pieghevole.zip)
summarizing the directives of Lombardy Regional Law against light pollution
(which, BTW, quickly became the Czech Republic National Law agains light
pollution) showing various kind of allowed and not-allowed fixtures.
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, and you'll find also a
gallery of "monsters" ("I mostri del cielo") showing i.e. how a parking lot
can become a nigthmare.
As far as bulbs are concerned, try to avoid halogen lamps: they will
probably say that this white light will increase the beauty of leaves green
color (and you can reply that they are meaning the Milky Way is a bad
sight...) but the same result can be achieved by compact fluorescent bulbs
with less energy requirements and less power.
There is also an English section on the site, even if not as complete as the
Italian one.

Dark (and clean) skies,

--
Beta Persei
45° 35' N
08° 51' E

I'm not sure this has been delivered. I'm trying again, sorry if you got it
twice.
Beta Persei

"Starlord" ha scritto nel messaggio
...

I will be there and I want to have some good ideas on hand to give to
them
to
save money...

Good job, Starlord. I know you haven't much time to get ready, but if you
could have a look on our site http://www.cielobuio.org you'll find a nice
leaflet (http://www.vialattea.net/cielobuio/s...pieghevole.zip)
summarizing the directives of Lombardy Regional Law against light
pollution
(which, BTW, quickly became the Czech Republic National Law agains light
pollution) showing various kind of allowed and not-allowed fixtures.
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, and you'll find also a
gallery of "monsters" ("I mostri del cielo") showing i.e. how a parking
lot
can become a nigthmare.
As far as bulbs are concerned, try to avoid halogen lamps: they will
probably say that this white light will increase the beauty of leaves
green
color (and you can reply that they are meaning the Milky Way is a bad
sight...) but the same result can be achieved by compact fluorescent bulbs
with less energy requirements and less power.
There is also an English section on the site, even if not as complete as
the
Italian one.

Dark (and clean) skies,

--
Beta Persei
45° 35' N
08° 51' E

Another little note is that you guys went through the power shortage a few
years ago with a lot of power outages. Remind them that adding that much
more power usage to the grid will only bring on the next power shortage that
much faster. The IDA's ideas of putting the light to the ground is a good
one for more reasons than one.

--
Bob May
Losing weight is easy! If you ever want to lose weight, eat and drink less.
Works evevery time it is tried!

Rosamond is the town who built a libery that has those box type lights, which
SHOULD have been good, only they stuck a clear plastic dome on top and now the
light shines upward too. :

I'm gearing up for a major battle.


--
"In this universe the night was falling,the shadows were lengthening
towards an east that would not know another dawn.
But elsewhere the stars were still young and the light of morning
lingered: and along the path he once had followed, man would one day go
again."

Arthur C. Clarke, The City & The Stars

SIAR
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"Bob May" wrote in message
...
Another little note is that you guys went through the power shortage a few
years ago with a lot of power outages. Remind them that adding that much
more power usage to the grid will only bring on the next power shortage that
much faster. The IDA's ideas of putting the light to the ground is a good
one for more reasons than one.

--
Bob May
Losing weight is easy! If you ever want to lose weight, eat and drink less.
Works evevery time it is tried!




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Another argument might be that too much, and too many, lights can take away the
dark adaptation of drivers, who could have a real problem navigating when going
from a very bright area to a very dark one (like for instance one where one or
more lights have burnt out or been shut off by irate astronomers).

Clear, Dark, Steady Skies!
(And considerate neighbors!!!)

In message , Starlord
writes
There's going to be a town meeting on 11/12 here in Rosamond and the subjest is
1st, a new higher fee to home owners to pay for street lighting. 2nd, the
paying for new street lighting in a park and in areas where there is none at
this time.

I will be there and I want to have some good ideas on hand to give to them to
save money. Ya, I know that No Lights would be best, but the powers
that be here
are going to put them in no matter what, so I want to give them ideas of what
KIND of lights to use.

You probably won't win on this one, but orange low pressure sodium
lights in full cut off fixtures have by far the highest efficiency of
any street lighting system. And they give fairly smooth diffuse lighting
with soft shadows.

It is unlikely in the US that you will be able to persuade people to
accept LPS lights though and you will likely end up with dazzling HPS
using twice as much electricity. However, you might just win the day
with the energy saving argument if your townsfolk are moderately
environmentally friendly.

I want to hear your ideas too, to see if I can add them into what I will give
them. I'll be printing up my fact sheet.

The material I submitted to the government select committee on light
pollution and astronomy in the UK is now online at:

http://www.nezumi.demon.co.uk/lightp...tpollution.htm

There are tables showing the efficacy of various lighting systems and
references to various other useful documents.

The big problem in the UK is that most of the luminaires are truly
dreadful and send nearly 30% of the light straight up into the sky.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown