Lighting Professionals versus Light Pollution Experts? Investigating Views on an Emerging Environmental Concern

Schulte-Römer, Nona; Meier, Josiane; Dannemann, Etta; Söding, Max

doi:10.3390/su11061696

Cited by 30 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 26 publications

(30 reference statements)

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“…Secondly, potential environmental problems related to, for example, biodiversity and the protection of natural nightscapes have rarely been discussed in the lighting practice [ 37 , 38 , 39 ]. This is mostly owing to the fact that to understand the impact of artificial lighting technologies on biodiversity, at least a basic disciplinary knowledge of ecology is required.…”

Section: Challenges For the Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Lighting Research Transdisciplinary Framework—A Collaborative Process with Lighting Professionals

Vega

Zielińska-Dabkowska

Hölker

2021

IJERPH

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Over the past decades, lighting professionals have influenced the experience of the night by brightly illuminating streets, buildings, skylines, and landscapes 24/7. When this became the accepted norm, a dual perspective on night-time was shaped and the visual enjoyment of visitors after dusk was prioritized over natural nightscapes (nocturnal landscapes). During this time, researchers of artificial light at night (ALAN) observed and reported a gradual increase in unnatural brightness and a shift in color of the night-time environment. As a consequence, ALAN has been identified as a relevant pollutant of aquatic and terrestrial habitats, and an environmental stressor, which may adversely affect a wide range of organisms, from micro-organisms to humans. Unfortunately, lighting professionals and ALAN researchers usually attempt to solve today’s sustainable urban lighting problems distinctive to their fields of study, without a dialogue between research and practice. Therefore, in order to translate research knowledge as an applicable solution for the lighting practice and to minimize the impact on the environment, a collaborative framework involving a transdisciplinary process with lighting professionals is crucial to potentially bring the practice, research, production, decision-making, and planning closer to each other. This paper presents a framework to help reduce the existing gap of knowledge, because appropriate lighting applications depend upon it. Access to less light polluted nightscapes in urban environments is just as important as access to unpolluted water, food, and air. This call for action towards sustainable urban lighting should be included in future lighting policies to solve the urgent environmental and health challenges facing our world.

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Section: Challenges For the Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Lighting Research Transdisciplinary Framework—A Collaborative Process with Lighting Professionals

Vega

Zielińska-Dabkowska

Hölker

2021

IJERPH

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“…The respondents were aged between 20 and 79, and about one third was female. Most of them (101; 65%) were based in Europe, while 29 (19%) were based in Anglo America, 13 (8%) in Australia and New Zealand, 5 (3%) in Middle Eastern or African countries, 4 (3%) in Latin America and 3 (2%) in Asia [22] (see also the supplementary material: www.ufz.de/light-pollution). The questionnaire included closed questions (Likert scales, multiple choice and single choice questions) as well as open questions, where respondents could spell out their views in more detail and in their own words.…”

Section: A Transdisciplinary Approach: Light Pollution-a Global Discumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some lighting professionals actively engage in raising awareness for light pollution and developing solutions for its mitigation. Others have acquired detailed knowledge of lighting technology and lighting practices and advise municipalities on sustainable lighting [22] (p. 3). In our quantitative analysis of the survey data, we juxtaposed the answers of the two groups.…”

Section: A Transdisciplinary Approach: Light Pollution-a Global Discumentioning

confidence: 99%

The LED Paradox: How Light Pollution Challenges Experts to Reconsider Sustainable Lighting

et al. 2019

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In the 21st century, the notion of “sustainable lighting” is closely associated with LED technology. In the past ten years, municipalities and private light users worldwide have installed light-emitting diodes in urban spaces and public streets to save energy. Yet an increasing body of interdisciplinary research suggests that supposedly sustainable LED installations are in fact unsustainable, because they increase light pollution. Paradoxically, blue-rich cool-white LED lighting, which is the most energy-efficient, also appears to be the most ecologically unfriendly. Biologists, physicians and ecologists warn that blue-rich LED light disturbs the circadian day-and-night rhythm of living organisms, including humans, with potential negative health effects on individual species and whole ecosystems. Can the paradox be solved? This paper explores this question based on our transdisciplinary research project Light Pollution—A Global Discussion. It reveals how light pollution experts and lighting professionals see the challenges and potential of LED lighting from their different viewpoints. This expert feedback shows that “sustainable LED lighting” goes far beyond energy efficiency as it raises complex design issues that imply stakeholder negotiation. It also suggests that the LED paradox may be solved in context, but hardly in principle.

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“…During the last decade there has been ongoing research activity focused on energy management using various types of renewable energy sources [3][4][5], on recycling [6], on safety [7][8][9][10], and a concentrated effort has been made for making street lighting systems sustainable [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] and environmentally friendly [20][21][22]. In addition, during the last few years, the issue of avoiding light pollution [23][24][25][26][27][28] has gained importance in technical reports [29] and expert discussions [30].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revision of Threshold Luminance Levels in Tunnels Aiming to Minimize Energy Consumption at No Cost: Methodology and Case Studies

Doulos

Sioutis²,

Tsangrassoulis

et al. 2020

Energies

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Because of the absence of lighting calculation tools at the initial stage of tunnel design, the lighting systems are usually over-dimensioned, leading to over illumination and increased energy consumption. For this reason, a fine-tuning method for switching lighting stages according to the traffic weighted L20 luminance is proposed at no additional cost. The method was applied in a real –case scenario, where L20 luminance of the access zone at eleven (11) existing tunnels was calculated. The traffic weighted method of CR14380 was used in order to calculate the actual luminance levels for the entrance zone. The new transition zone, which decreases luminance curves, was produced and compared with the existing ones. Thus, a new switching control was proposed and programed for the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system of the tunnel. The signals of the corresponding eleven L20 meters for a period of eight days were used and the corresponding annual energy consumptions were calculated using the proposed switching program for each tunnel. The results were compared with a number of scenarios in which the existing lighting system was retrofitted with Lighting Emitting Diodes (LED) luminaires. In these scenarios, the new luminaire arrangement was based not only on the existing luminance demand value for the threshold zone, but also on the newly proposed one with two different control techniques (continuous dimming and 10% step dimming). The fine-tuning method for switching resulted in energy savings between 11% and 54% depending on the tunnel when the scenario of the existing installation at no extra cost was used. Energy savings, when LED luminaires were installed, varied between 57% (for the scenario with existing luminance demand value for the threshold zone and 10% step dimming) and 85% (for the scenario with the new calculated luminance demand and continuous dimming).

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Lighting Professionals versus Light Pollution Experts? Investigating Views on an Emerging Environmental Concern

Cited by 30 publications

References 26 publications

Urban Lighting Research Transdisciplinary Framework—A Collaborative Process with Lighting Professionals

Urban Lighting Research Transdisciplinary Framework—A Collaborative Process with Lighting Professionals

The LED Paradox: How Light Pollution Challenges Experts to Reconsider Sustainable Lighting

Revision of Threshold Luminance Levels in Tunnels Aiming to Minimize Energy Consumption at No Cost: Methodology and Case Studies

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