Light pollution: Information and energy waste

Ramón San Martín and Manuel García, Estudios Luminotecnicos, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain

Keywords

light pollution, superior flux emission, environment, wasting, glow, regulations, urban properties, simulation, Catalonia, intrusive light, astronomical observatory, background, sky luminance, night environment, energy wasting

Abstract

Nowadays, the Artificial Lighting is widely used by the community as a way to get some additional visual information that allows it to extend its activities during the night-time. Although the main aim consists of lighting some concrete zones, avoiding light diffusion towards other adjacent areas – and even directly towards the atmosphere – becomes impossible, so a visual noise known as Light Pollution is consequently created.

This dispersed light has a negative influence in the environment in several different ways: natural zones or citizens privacy intrusion, affectation to both flora and fauna – especially to those that mainly develop their activities at night-time – difficulties when carrying out astronomic observations, etc. It is possible to talk about informative residues of the lighting process and, since this light production is concerned with an energetic spending, it can also be pointed the existence of an energetic resource wasting. Even though this problem is nowadays widely known and it is already being studied, the actions taken in order to reduce it are infrequent, and the growing of the environmental influence of Light Pollution is far away from suffering a reduction.

In Catalonia æ Autonomic Community, located in the north-east of Spain with 32.000 Km2 of extension and 6.150.000 population (in 1999) – the Autonomic Government has created the Law for the Environmental Ordination of the Outdoor Lighting for the Protection of the Night Environment. The Regulations, which will make it possible to achieve the practical application of the law, are about to be published. In order to carry out this application, it is necessary to develop some procedures that make it possible the evaluation, comparison and correction of real Light Pollution. The field studies performed by our Estudios Luminotécnicos team has allowed us to create a methodology that we believe it can be useful at this stage.