A bill titled “An Act to improve outdoor lighting, conserve energy, and increase dark-sky visibility” has been submitted to the Massachusetts Legislature this session. (S2147/H3306)
According to the proponents, this legislation would promote energy-efficient lighting practices throughout the commonwealth by requiring municipal- and state-funded projects to use fully shielded exterior lighting in new or replacement installations, to install that lighting only where it is needed, and require these installations to use lighting with a correlated color temperature (CCT) of no higher than 3000K, which researchers advocate for human circadian health and nocturnal habitats. It would also require the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities to establish reduced-rate tariffs for low-wattage LED streetlights and for streetlights that are dimmed or turned off during the night.
Why is this important? According to the proponents of the bill, poorly designed or excessive night lighting harms the environment in many ways, including: Energy waste: by one recent estimate, light streaming up into the night sky from cities and towns in Massachusetts equates to 1½ billion kilowatt-hours and $180,000,000 in wasted electricity annually. Visual impairment: poorly designed lighting causes harsh glare that blinds and distracts drivers, especially in bad weather and for elderly drivers with poorer night vision. Environmental consequences: overlit buildings disorient many birds, especially during their seasonal migrations, causing death due to impact or predation. Loss of the starry sky: skyglow from light pollution reduces enjoyment of the night sky. More than two thirds of Americans can’t see the Milky Way from their homes.
By contrast, well-designed lighting illuminates the ground without wasting energy and without being a burden or nuisance to the environment or other people and property. Lighting professionals recognize that the most straightforward means to create a glare-free nighttime environment is to utilize fully-shielded lighting fixtures, which emit all of their light down (below horizontal) and none of it directly up into the sky. Note that the bill’s requirements would apply only to new or replacement lighting installations — existing lighting would not be affected, and provisions are included to permit waivers when deemed necessary by special circumstances. Nor would it add to project costs, because well-designed, fully-shielded lighting is now almost universally available from manufacturers.
Closer to home, there is a citizen petition warrant article for the Buckland Annual Town Meeting. LED streetlights have been recently installed in Buckland. They are all 3,000k and most get dimmed by operating at half power after 11 p.m. None of the lights were installed with shields. Residents are noticing how bright the lights are compared to the ones that were there before. The new lights really do impair my vision at night, and others are reporting the same. The brighter light from the fixtures is being reported as more bothersome as it enters people’s home and properties. And the new 3,000k lights have more of a negative impact on human and wildlife health than our other streetlights did.
As it stands, residents can petition the town for house-side shields and for the lights being powered down at 10 p.m. instead of 11 p.m. The petitioners are asking that house side shields be provided for each of these fixtures, and that all of them be dimmed to 50% at all times. There is no evidence that there would be safety or other concerns by doing this, but we would be doing our residents and our environment a favor by making this the default position in Buckland. The petition also calls for future installations have 2200k, which would be warmer and more like our old lights, and be installed with full shields.
Please support the Dark Sky bill by asking your legislators to co-sponsor and vote in favor of it. And please support the health and welfare of Buckland by attending Town Meeting and voting in favor of this article on Saturday, June 5, 10 a.m. at the Mohawk High School parking lot. The rain date is June 26.
Janet Sinclair lives on the Buckland side of Shelburne Falls. She hopes that we can all have darker skies.