Saving the Night Skies: How Lighting Design Combats Light Pollution

Why is it important?

For designers and residents alike, knowing when and where to illuminate is just as crucial as knowing when to ease back. As cities grow and populations expand, so does our reliance on artificial lighting at night. However, it’s easy to overlook the effect this has on the environment. In this newsletter, we aim to highlight the crucial role design plays in reducing light pollution.

Outdoor lighting contributes to vast amounts of energy use each year, with lighting being responsible for a quarter of electricity consumption globally. This excess light pollution not only disrupts wildlife but also affects human health, interfering with circadian rhythms and heightening the risk of sleep-related health problems.

In response to these light-related issues, communities and municipalities created the International Dark Sky Association to set standards on outdoor lighting.

What is Dark Sky Certified?  

A Dark Sky certification ensures that lighting fixtures are designed to reduce glare, light spill, and light pollution. It enables designers to select Dark Sky-approved products, fostering thoughtful and sustainable design for their projects. Fixtures bearing this certification will display an IDA stamp on the cutsheet, confirming they meet International Dark Sky standards.

Shielded luminaires directed down to the ground as seen here, provide adequate pathfinding lighting, while restricting light from trespassing into the night sky

In addition to choosing Dark Sky Certified fixtures, designers can take the following steps to help prevent light pollution in a lighting system:

1. Select fixtures with shielded light sources, preventing light trespass upwards, and that directs light down where it is needed

2. Select light that is lower in intensity, minimizing glare and excess light spill

3. Specify warm color temperatures. Generally, below 3000K is less disruptive to wildlife and to our own circadian rhythms!

These exterior pathlights emit a warm color temperature, which is gentler on dark skies and causes less disruption to both humans and animals

4. Select fixtures to be used with motion sensors or that are on timers. These technologies help light only be used when it is necessary, reducing excess power consumption

5. Specify controls to assist homeowners, and business owners have easy access to lowering light levels as it gets darker out

Once fixtures are selected and installed, lighting designers can locate and aim fixtures to highlight architectural and landscape elements in their projects, minimizing unwanted light spill.

Uplighting exterior landscape features is a common practice, as shown here, but it's essential to approach it with care. By incorporating glare shields and precisely directing fixtures, we can ensure the light is focused where it's needed, preventing unnecessary light from spilling into the night sky

The ongoing use of thoughtful and intentional lighting is crucial for lighting designers as they accentuate exterior landscapes. By utilizing these tools, designers and homeowners can elevate the functionality and aesthetics of outdoor spaces while helping to preserve the integrity of nighttime environments.

As we welcome Spring and spend more time outdoors, let's be mindful of our use of artificial light – you might be surprised by how much of the natural nightscape you can enjoy with so little of it!

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-Written by Maxime O'Rourke, For Prism Lighting Design