Letter to News and Observer, Raleigh

01/12/2000

Dear Editor,

We read your Dec. 24 article "City officials look on the bright side" with great interest, and are glad that this problem is receiving local attention.

We wish to point out that in addition to light "trespass," improper lighting also wastes energy, adversely affects safety, and causes environmental concerns in general. While security is often cited as the reason for bright outdoor lighting, statistics show that such lighting does not deter criminal activity (most crimes occur during daylight), and indeed raises safety issues like being "blinded" by service station lights while driving.

While we don't advocate eliminating outdoor lighting, we suggest several ways to improve it. First, use full cutoff fixtures to eliminate glare and light trespass. These fixtures are designed to direct all light at or below the horizontal. Second, use low-pressure sodium lamps for economical lighting when color rendition is not important. A 55 watt low-pressure sodium lamp emits more light and uses one third the amount of energy used by the typical 175 watt mercury vapor lamp used inmanystreetlights and security lights. Finally, use only as much light as needed. The lighting in use at East Coast Oil on Capital Boulevard, mentioned in the article, is excessive but not uncommon for businesses.

Depending on the placement of the fixture, the 400 watt metal halide lamp typically produces more than 100 times the light of a bright full moon, which is much more light than is needed.

Phyllis Lang
Cary

David Lakey
Raleigh