Wherefore:
– The natural night is a resource that is fundamental for the proper functioning of biological systems, including humans;
– Artificial light pollution has greatly increased the risk of prostate, thyroid, and breast cancer, mood disorders, and premature births;
– Artificial light pollution is having dramatic negative impacts on insect populations, fish, birds, and plants;
– Humans are designed to see via reflected light, not light directed straight into the eye;
– LEDs are a light beam and do not provide uniform illumination;
– LEDs create more light pollution than other lighting technologies because of the high energy light beams;
– LEDs can trigger epileptic seizures, migraines, and panic attacks, and therefore can be discriminatory;
– Energy efficiency between devices that provide uniform illumination and LEDs cannot be made because they provide different services;
Natural Night Resource Protection
The natural night is a resource that is fundamental to the proper functioning of all biological systems. Therefore, it is critical to protect the natural night resource. The first step in protecting the natural night is setting a minimum darkness level for the village, city or county geographic area. Darkness level can be measured using the sky brightness value measured in magnitude per square arc-second (mpsas) by using a Sky Quality Meter or satellite data. More information…
Regulation: The minimum Sky Brightness for any geographical location shall be at 20.5 mpsas.
Disability Rights
Humans have a wide variety of sensitivity to light. The right of a person to not be subjected to artificial light shall take precedence over the right of a person or entity wishing to use artificial light.
Artificial Light Emitters
Outdoor lighting falls into two categories: uniform emitters such as incandescent and High Pressure Sodium, and directed-beam emitters such as Light Emitting Diode. Since LEDs create an unnatural, non-uniform luminance, the use of LEDs must be more restricted than uniform luminance emitters.
Uniform Emitters
Uniform emitters include incandescent, halogen, candle, induction, and gas-discharge.
Luminous Flux
Luminous flux is the human-perceived power of visible light and is measured in lumens. To protect the natural night resource, we need to limit the power of the visible light being emitted. The less power emitted, the less energy consumed to power the artificial light and the less damage is done to the natural night. Human rod eye cells, used for low light conditions, are 7 times more efficient than human cone eye cells, used to detect color. More information…
In terms of light pollution, it doesn’t really matter how much light is emitted, so long as the light is only illuminating the area that needs illumination, which is typically on the ground. The higher the luminous flux, the higher the likelihood of wasted energy.
Regulation: Use the least amount of lumens to allow for human navigation at night. Typically, use 5 to 400 lumens for any outdoor light, with a maximum luminous flux of 800 lumens for streetlights and floodlights, and 2,000 lumens for sports field lighting.
Illuminance
The light falling onto the ground is called illuminance and is measured in lux. The light from the full moon landing on the ground is approximately 0.25 lux. Biological systems are very sensitive to changes in night time lighting, so it is of utmost importance that we keep lighting levels very low. At night, human eyes will use the rod cones which can detect shapes and motion at very low levels of light, but cannot detect color. The ability to detect color at night is not a necessary function for humans, so we should keep light below the level of when the cone cells start to activate.
In the built environment, in areas where humans would be expected to congregate at night, we can allow more light and the use of cone cells to enhance the human experience. In residential areas, the amount of artificial light should be kept close to zero, as even tiny amounts of artificial light will negatively impact human health.
Regulation: Illuminance shall not exceed 1.0 lux, except in specially designated areas, where the illuminance shall not exceed 5.0 lux, and sports fields where the illuminance shall not exceed 10.0 lux.
Light Trespass
Light that travels beyond the area intended to be illuminated is called Light Trespass. Examples of light trespass include light from a streetlight entering private property, light from a fuel station entering public property, light from a floodlight entering a neighbor’s property, and any artificial light entering the sky. To limit light trespass, shields should be used to confine the light to the area needing illumination, and the luminous flux shall be kept low.
Regulation: Any emitter that exceeds 20 lumens shall be shielded such that the emitter is visible only directly under the emitter, plus or minus 20 degrees.
Curfew
Artificial light is a severe disrupter of the circadian rhythms of biological systems, and therefore should be use very sparingly. To protect human sleep, moths, frogs, trees, birds, racoons, and everything else, artificial light should be eliminated for most of the night.
Regulation: Streetlights, floodlights and sports field lighting may only be operational from 30 minutes after sunset to 11:00pm.
Directed-beam Emitters
Directed-beam emitters include Light Emitting Diodes. Because of their directed-beam nature, LEDs are not fit for the purpose of illuminating large volumes of space, and therefore must not be used for street lighting, flood lighting or sports field lighting. Current field measurement techniques do not have the precision or software to measure the peak luminance, spectral power distribution, flicker or flutter of directed-beam LEDs. Therefore, these measurements must be made in a laboratory setting with precision instruments and then the measurements must be provided by the manufacturers and distributors of the lights.
Directed-beam LED light is especially toxic to people who have excellent light sensitivity. Therefore, the radiant power of LEDs must be kept very low in order not to trigger epileptic seizures, migraines, psychological trauma or eye damage.
Luminous Flux
Because LEDs can be so toxic due to their non-uniform luminance, the luminous flux must be restricted.
Regulation: The maximum luminous flux shall be 100 lumens.
Illuminance
Because of the directed-beam, non-uniform luminance nature of LEDs, measuring illuminance in one location will typically be different than at a different location.
Regulation: The Illuminance Regulations for Uniform Emitters shall apply.
Peak Luminance
Luminance is the measurement of the density of the light and is measured in candela per square meter, also known as nits. Since LEDs emit a Lambertian shape of light, the peak luminance is from the center of the chip, with the luminance being less at angles away from the center axis. The maximum tolerance for humans is 50,000 nits. The maximum comfort level is 300 nits.
Regulation: Chip-level source peak luminance shall not exceed 300 nits, as measured in the laboratory with precision equipment.
Correlated Color Temperature
The Correlated Color Temperature maps the perceived color of the light to heated metal and is measured in degrees Kelvin. LEDs do not have a single CCT because of the Lambertian shape of the light. However, a single CCT is commonly used in the lighting industry anyway. The higher the value, the more blue wavelength light. Since blue wavelength light at night is especially harmful, we must limit the CCT to low values. Red and amber are the better color temperatures.
Regulation: CCT shall not exceed 2700 Kelvin, as measured in the laboratory with precision equipment.
Spectral Power Distribution
The Spectral Power Distribution is a description of the energy of the visible light spectrum at each wavelength. An LED has an unnatural shape for its SPD, which can interrupt proper functioning of the central nervous system.
Flicker
An LED chip uses Direct Current, whereas the grid electrical system is Alternating Current. Therefore, there are electronics that convert the A/C to D/C current. The human central nervous system is sensitive to this flicker, whether conscious or not. More Information…
Regulation: The flicker rate shall be at least 3,000 Hertz, as measured in the laboratory with precision equipment.
Flutter
Flutter is the inherent variable output from the LED chip. We do not have enough knowledge at this time to specify safety parameters.
Flash Rate
The nature of LEDs means that a flashing light will turn on and off instantly. This is a stressor on the human central nervous system that can lead to psychological trauma. Therefore, any LED flashing light must incorporate a rise and decay time to eliminate this stress. A directed beam flashing light output shall increase linearly from 0% to 100% no faster than 200 milliseconds. Similarly, the light output shall decrease linearly from 100% to 0% no faster than 200ms. A flashing light shall cycle between off to on to off no faster than once every two seconds.
Curfew
Regulation: The Curfew Regulations for Uniform Emitters shall apply.
Light Trespass
Regulation: The Light Trespass Regulations for Uniform Emitters shall apply.