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Simple streetlight hack could protect astronomy from urban light pollution

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111–120 of 159 posts

Re: Simple streetlight hack could protect astronomy from urban light pollution

#111

Seeking advice on how to lobby my city to disable a streetlight. We are on a rural road next to conservation land, and it blasts our house with light through the night, distracting our son with autism. Considering getting an instrument to measure the light's intensity and gathering data. Any tips on how to lobby a city government with such an unusual request would be greatly appreciated.

You can usually ask the utility to add a light shield. Just about every model can take one to reduce glaring sideways light.

Re: Simple streetlight hack could protect astronomy from urban light pollution

#115
post #60

No. The article is light on details, but: > A simple device that makes LED lights flicker at a very high frequency that is imperceptible to the human eye > shutter, which needs to be lightweight and agile enough to blink about 150 times per second. Subjecting an entire city to 150 Hz flicker is not even remotely acceptable. IMO this needs to comply with IEEE 1789.

[deleted]

Re: Simple streetlight hack could protect astronomy from urban light pollution

#117
post #56

This doesn't help people like me who just want to stargaze. How about, empty city streets don't need to be lit up at 2 am. And what lighting there is, is too bright, too intrusive, and overused.

I don't understand why not just use a motion sensor, and turn the nearest 10 or so lights where the motion sensor was activated for a few minutes.

Re: Simple streetlight hack could protect astronomy from urban light pollution

#118
Get real. If we can’t get municipalities to limit light pollution with simple common sense measures like directing light more efficiently and dimming/turning off lights when they’re not needed, how can we expect them to synchronize their lights with a GPS driven signal? Never mind that this “simple” fix does nothing to address the everyday societal impacts of light pollution.

Re: Simple streetlight hack could protect astronomy from urban light pollution

#119

Seeking advice on how to lobby my city to disable a streetlight. We are on a rural road next to conservation land, and it blasts our house with light through the night, distracting our son with autism. Considering getting an instrument to measure the light's intensity and gathering data. Any tips on how to lobby a city government with such an unusual request would be greatly appreciated.

Do all that but have you considered good blinds and maybe even a sleeping mask? I'm on your side but good tools to have for anyone, particularly with or without such a condition. The sleeping mask Tim Ferriss recommends is amazing, I hate sleeping without it

Re: Simple streetlight hack could protect astronomy from urban light pollution

#120
post #2

In my area I've noticed the problem isn't so much that they are brighter, but that our new bulbs just emit light near 180 degrees (sideways) with no control over direction. It causes light to flood into homes, and more than half isn't even illuminating the road. They also have no diffusion, so its harsh on the eyes. A bad design all around

Its often the most offensive shade of bright white fluorescent-like LED. Why can't they do the orange one that lets everyone be ok seeing light at night and sleeping to tell the tale
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