‘They have stolen my night from me’
New LED street lights spark concerns about light pollution
WATERLOO REGION — Rob Stephens used to enjoy looking at the stars at night from his home on Louisa Street in Kitchener.
But he says that pleasure is gone, now that the city has replaced the street lights with more efficient LED lights.
“It lights up my whole front yard,” he says. “It’s ridiculously bright. It’s like daylight out there.”
Stephens, who has sensitive eyes, says he now keeps his gaze focused down and away from street lights when he walks his dog at night. “They burn your eyes. You just glance at them, and you get a bright spot on your eyes. It’s like staring at the sun.”
All seven municipalities in Waterloo Region are in the process of converting conventional high-pressure sodium street lights to the LED lights, which last longer and use less energy.
The conversion, which costs almost $13 million and will replace 42,000 street lights, should wrap up by the end of October.
But some people, like Stephens, say the new lights are a source of light pollution that has drastically affected their quality of life.
Frank Tapper, who lives in the Eastbridge area of Waterloo, considers himself “a night guy.” He prefers walking his dog at night, and enjoys stargazing with a small telescope.
But he says he now seeks out unlit pathways for walks, and feels the ambience of his neighbourhood has been drastically altered.
“It just feels like our neighbourhood has been picked up and plunked down in the middle of a Walmart parking lot,” Tapper said. “Those glaring white lights make an evening stroll not nearly as pleasant as it used to be.”
There are many reasons why local municipalities made the switch. The new lights consume half the energy of conventional lights, and last two to four times as long. They’re expected to save about $2.5 million a year because of lower maintenance and electricity costs.
But the new lights emit a different kind of light that is bluer than the lights emitted by the old high-pressure sodium lights. Humans perceive the
bluer light as a harsh white. The colour “temperature” of light is expressed in Kelvins, with warmer lights having a lower rating. The old street lights had a colour temperature of 2,100K, while the new LEDs are rated at 3,000K.
That colour temperature can have a real effect on people. Many cities in the United States were keen to capitalize on the energy savings of LED lights, and switched when available street lights were at the cooler end of the colour spectrum, only to be deluged with complaints.
Residents in Davis, Calif., complained so much about the city’s new 4,800K street lights that the city spent $350,000 to replace them with warmer 2,700K lights.
Light pollution is a growing problem — spreading globally by six per cent a year. You can see the light pollution in our area online at lightpollutionmap.info.
The artificial light has a number of effects on both people and animals:
Artificial lights disorient migrating birds, killing an estimated 500 million to 1 billion birds in the U.S. alone, and prompting New York state to turn off nonessential lights in state buildings during migration.
Nighttime light also affects insect pollinators that provide an essential service for agricultural crops.
Light pollution prevents 80 per cent of people in North America from seeing the Milky Way.
The American Medical Association warned in a 2016 study that excess glare from LED lights can create a road hazard;
The same study says lights that are too “cool” — which emit a bluer light that the human eye perceives as a harsh white — can damage retinas and affect circadian rhythms and sleep patterns of both people and animals.
Those leading the conversion in Waterloo Region said they spent a lot of time addressing concerns about the potential for light pollution.
The lights being installed locally carry the seal of approval of the International Dark-Sky Association and meet the American Medical Association recommendation that street lights should be 3,000K or less, said Bob Henderson, manager of transportation engineering at the region.
“Our public health staff reviewed our plan and were fine with it. Now we have a product on our streets that’s reduced our carbon footprint, reduced our reliance on fossil fuels, that has reduced energy and maintenance costs,” he said.
“The positives far outweigh any (negative) implications.”
The new lamps have a full cut-off design that reduces spillage and does a better job of focusing light onto the street than conventional street lights, Henderson said.
He said he’s received just a handful of complaints.
He urges anyone who feels the lights are too bright to contact their city or the region, since it may be possible to install a shield or to tilt the lamp slightly to redirect light.
In Kitchener, the lights will have the added bonus of being able to be dimmed, thanks to the wireless smart network the city installed with its new lights.
LED lights lose brightness over time, so they’re actually brighter than they need to be when they’re first installed, and fade about two per cent a year. Kitchener plans to address that by dimming all its street lights by 20 to 30 per cent once the system is fully in place. “We can dial that back and then make annual adjustments, so the roads (in Kitchener) will always be lit the same” for the 15-year lifespan of the LEDs, said Barry Cronkite, a Kitchener transportation manager.
The city also is developing a plan to dim lights further on quieter streets between about 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. when traffic is lightest, Cronkite said.
Amateur astronomer Shawn Nielsen has raised light pollution concerns for years, submitting briefs on the issue to the region and the City of Guelph. He believes there hasn’t been enough discussion about the concerns about the LEDs’ more intense, bluer light, and would have liked to see local municipalities follow the lead of cities like Phoenix and opt for warmer 2,700K lights.
He’d like to see the region take leadership on light pollution, and follow the lead of municipalities such as Huntsville and Muskoka Region in implementing a bylaw that limits light pollution. Guelph is also considering such a bylaw.
Tapper understands the merits of using more energy-efficient lights, but questions the need to have them burn as brightly as they do.
Meanwhile, Stephens is eagerly awaiting Kitchener’s efforts to remotely dim the lights further. “They have stolen my night from me,” he said.