What is Dark Sky Compliance, and Why Does It Matter

Dark sky compliance has been trending a lot lately thanks to the efforts of the dark-sky movement attempting to ‘reclaim the sky.’

But what is dark sky compliance and the dark-sky movement?

Ultimately, both seek the same goal — to eradicate and minimize the amount of light pollution in our modern society.

Poorly-designed lighting fixtures are primarily responsible for light pollution. Here at LED Lighting Supply, we believe in the importance of well-designed lighting fixtures helping to reverse the effects of light pollution on the population.

Here’s our guide ensuring that modern outdoor lighting is dark sky compliant.

What is dark sky compliance?

Dark sky compliance is when any outdoor lighting fixture passes the International Dark-Sky Association (ID) Fixture Seal of Approval program.

The IDA is the voice for light pollution by educating manufacturers, designers, local government committees, and the public about minimizing light pollution. The IDA strongly believes the optimal way to protect the natural night environment is to manage outdoor lighting.

Why is dark sky compliance important?

The purpose of dark sky compliance is to limit the amount of blue light at night.

What’s so bad about blue light?

Our circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles that help our bodies know when to carry out essential functions. Light is the most critical factor in aligning our circadian rhythms. Humans and animals typically aligned these rhythms with sunrise and sunset.

We are exposed to more artificial light through electronics that have disrupted our circadian rhythms before we head to sleep. All types of light can affect your circadian rhythm, however, it is the blue light that has the most considerable impact.

Typically, as humans, we receive most blue light exposure from the sun. Blue light activates and stimulates parts of our brain that make us feel alert, increasing our heart rate and body temperature improving our attention span and productive performance.

Ultimately this should also aid us by tiring us out and helping us to get a good night’s sleep after the sun goes down.

But if we are still using blue light at night, when we should be sleeping, this will disrupt our need for rest and recovery. This is because blue light blocks the melatonin hormone that makes you sleepy.

High levels of blue light impact sleep quality due to our insatiable demand for more device screen time, limiting our outdoor lighting fixtures and thus reducing blue light is a perfect solution.

These lights have been shown to affect wildlife reproduction and behavior adversely.

For example, the purpose of a street light is to light the ground beneath the light. However, we consider light trespassing when light from a street lamp ‘trespasses’ into a neighboring backyard. The light is shining where it does not need to be and is spreading unnecessary light rays.

Artificial lighting, whether blue or not, disrupts the natural ecosystem of local wildlife in that animals are not certain when daylight begins and ends. For small animals prone to being hunted by larger predators, this can be damaging to their species.

Increased light pollution will also make it more impossible to see the stars at night or even outside.

You may be asking, why should all this even matter?

What are the benefits of Dark Sky Compliance?

Dark Sky Compliance contains more benefits than you might think.

Safety

Dark-sky lighting still gives us light but more safely while significantly reducing the area and distance where light travels.

For instance, it decreases dangerous disability glare for drivers and pedestrians — white light from headlights often blinds oncoming traffic or pedestrians looking to cross roads safely.

Too much light (especially bright, white light) can make it harder to see and make us feel less safe because it creates dark shadows where others can hide while you are ‘exposed’ in the light.

That being said, brighter does not always mean safer. Across the pond in the UK, research concluded that there was little evidence of an increase in traffic accidents or crime after reduced lighting.

Health

Blue light at night (from white LEDs, tablets, laptops, smartphones) can harm our health by disrupting our circadian rhythms and thus contribute to conditions including insomnia, obesity, cancer, diabetes, and even heart disease.

For good health, we need sunshine and vitamin D. Still, we also need exposure to darkness. Darkness at night aids in supporting our circadian rhythm in regulating our sleep cycles so we can repair our bodies from the rigors of daily living.

Wildlife

Darkness at night time is vital to Earth’s ecosystem. Bright, artificial lighting disrupts plants and animals that depend on natural light rising in the morning and setting at night.

Particularly for nocturnal animals, this can have a devastating impact, as they rely on the night to survive against larger predators that occupy the daylight.

Dark-sky lighting (especially those with an amber or orange glow) will go far to help protect our precious wildlife.

Our Planet

Dark-sky lighting not only protects the planet’s wildlife but the planet itself. The United States wastes about 30% of all outdoor lighting, and $3.3 billion a year is spent on this wasted light. By only using the amount of light necessary, all the planet’s inhabitants can significantly reduce wasted energy consumption.

Rest and Recovery

Nighttime is rest time. Amber or warmer dark-sky lighting uses colors that resemble sunsets and candlelight rather than white and blue colors that occur on our screens and TV standby lights.

Not only do blue and light colors delay us in getting to sleep, but they may also even wake us up during our sleep! Hence, an amber light will aid you in not only feeling more sleepy but will rarely wake you up during your valuable rest periods.

Our Stars

Have you ever looked up at the sky during nighttime and searched for the stars yet only see bleary light instead? If so, what you are witnessing is light pollution.

What you will notice most about light pollution is that it makes the stars disappear. Researchers estimate that by 2025 only a few dark-sky places will remain in the United States. As more of the buildings around us illuminate the skies, the stars become somewhat dimmer in the night sky, almost becoming dark themselves.

Due to rapidly growing light pollution, especially the current blue-Rich White LEDs replacing older streetlights, stars have ‘disappeared’ from our views.

Five practical tips to becoming Dark Sky Compliant

The dark-sky movement wants to make the night sky more visible, help cut down on the amount of energy being used, and reduce unnatural light’s impact on the environment.

Here are our five practical tips for ensuring outdoor lighting is dark sky compliant.

1. Use LEDs

Most of us are familiar with compact fluorescent or incandescent light bulbs for indoor lighting. However, most of us believe that the lighting fixtures should be more industrial light sources for outdoor lighting.

Thankfully, outdoor lighting has come a long way.

LEDs are an excellent option for when white light is needed because they’re energy-efficient, cutting down energy waste. Dimmable LEDs can be turned down and thus are a perfect option for outdoor use.

Because of their reported long life and energy efficiency, LEDs are rapidly becoming widespread, replacing the existing lighting in many cities.

2. The correct color matters

Blue light is harmful to nature and the wildlife in it and humans. While LEDs are great energy-efficient lights, they contain a more significant amount of blue light.

Therefore, you should select lighting with a color temperature of no more than 3000 Kelvins if you seek the ‘warm’ glow or an amber-looking light bulb that is lower in color temperature and looks and ‘feels’ like a low-spectrum LED.

3. Always minimize light waste

Reduce light waste by only lighting the areas that you really need to. Reducing light waste means turning your lights on only when required or setting them onto a timer or sensor to help decrease the amount of light waste.

The Department of Energy also proves that business owners can calculate energy savings to minimize light waste. Thus, not only do you reduce the amount of life that impacts local wildlife and your own sleep health, but you can also make significant savings on commercial transactions, too.

4. Install lights and light fixtures that use shields

Always choose fully shielded modern outdoor lighting fixtures, so the light points downward. Thus, this minimizes glare, reduces light pollution, and facilitates better vision at night.

By installing lighting that helps keep the sky dark by fully shielding the light bulb on the top and sides. The light is directed downwards instead of upwards and through the sides, removing excess glare hiding the stars in the sky.

5. Never use more brightness than you need

Ensure your outdoor lights aren’t unnecessarily bright. First, decide whether you really need such bright outdoor fixtures. Then consider either LEDs or lightbulb glow next, for example, whether you need 3,000 Kelvins or 5,000.

Make sure you strike the right balance between navigating outside and getting a good night’s sleep for yourself and the environment. Ensure that the lighting you choose meets that minimum for both.

Now you know the practical part, let’s move onto what dark sky compliant fixtures look like.

Conclusion

Outdoor lighting is necessary at night.

Artificial lights illuminate our surroundings, providing us with a sense of security and safety. However, using outdoor lighting fixtures will contribute to light pollution.

However, excessive light pollution is terrible for the environment and can cause air pollution. It is almost impossible to view the stars at night, especially in cities with so much artificial lighting from office buildings, factories, street lamps, and billboards.

Dark sky compliance is critical because aside from reducing light pollution, it also reduces the amount of blue light during the night, impacting the proper functioning of our bodies and the wildlife around us.

Using dark sky-compliant lights does not only reduce light waste, but it also offers many benefits that include saving energy and money for your business. Win-win, right?

Originally published at https://www.ledlightingsupply.com.