Less than a century ago, stars and entire galaxies were visible to the human eye in the darkness of night. Now, the sky has a glare that seems to cover up the beautiful stars that once filled its dark canvas. Light pollution, or the excessive or inappropriate use of artificial light, is impairing our view of the night sky.
Aside from blocking the view of a starry sky, light pollution can have serious environmental consequences for humans, wildlife and our climate.
When artificial lights fill the sky and overwhelm the darkness, our cities glow at night. This disrupts the natural day and night pattern, inhibiting consistent sleep schedules and circadian rhythms. Additionally, this shift in day and nighttime hours upsets the delicate balance of nocturnal and diurnal wildlife, sometimes disturbing entire ecosystems.
However, artificial lights can be done in such a way that they don’t pollute our skies or harm our natural environments. Signature Illumination Designs is committed to using our lighting designs and systems to preserve the beauty of the night sky.
The four components of light pollution are often seen in combination with one another and may overlap. They are as follows:
Glare – excessive brightness that causes visual discomfort
Skyglow – brightening of the night sky over inhabited areas
Light trespass – light falling where it is not intended or needed
Clutter – bright, confusing and excessive groupings of light sources
When we design lighting solutions, we carefully consider each of these components so as not to contribute to inappropriate or excessive lighting. Listed below are a few steps our team takes to combat light pollution.
We use soft, warm-glowing lights that aren’t as bright and significantly reduce glare.
A large portion of the exterior lights we install are downward-facing lights, so they don’t shine in the direction of the sky.
We install motion sensors and timers that are only in use when specifically needed and are otherwise turned off. This helps lower the overall average time of illumination.
We focus on lighting only the objects and areas that need to be illuminated so we don’t commit light trespass.
Many of the LED lights we use have dimming capabilities that help reduce brightness.
Our team of expert lighting designers and skilled electric technicians are well aware of their responsibility to thoroughly consider the effects of their work. For each and every project, we create a detailed plan for how to leave the existing environment in a beautiful state that is safe for all its inhabitants.
We are consistently working to protect the beauty of the night sky with our lighting solutions.
Contact us to learn more about our efforts to combat light pollution.
