Ardavani, O., Zerefos, S., & Doulos, L. T. (2020). Redesigning the exterior lighting as part of the urban landscape: The role of transgenic bioluminescent plants in mediterranean urban and suburban lighting environments. Journal of Cleaner Production, 242, 118477.
Abstract: This research discusses the feasibility of replacing or supporting artificial lighting with Transgenic Bioluminescent Plants (TBP), as a means of minimizing light pollution, reducing electrical energy consumption and de-carbonizing urban and suburban outdoor environments, creating sustainable conditions and enriching the quality of life. Until now, no information is given about the light output of any TBPs and the question “Are the TBPs capable of producing the necessary lighting levels for exterior lighting?” is unanswered. For this reason, a new methodology is proposed for selecting and analyzing the lighting output potential of transgenic plants ted for specific climatic conditions. This methodology considers growth and reduction factors, as well as a formulae for estimating the plants’ luminous output by performing light measurements. Results show that transgenic plants in medium growth can emit a median luminous flux of up to 57 lm, a value that can definitely support low lighting requirements when used in large numbers of plants. From the lighting measurements and calculations performed in this research, the light output of the TBPs for a typical road with 5m width was found equal to 2lx. The amount of plants required was 40 at each side of the road for every 30m of streets with P6 road class. The results show that the use of bioluminescent plants can actually contribute to the reduction of energy consumption, concerning only the lighting criterium, thus creating an enormous opportunity for a new state-of- the-art market and research that could potentially minimize CO2 emissions and light pollution, improve urban and suburban microclimate, mitigate the effects of climate change, as well as provide an alternative means of lighting affecting both outdoor lighting design and landscape planning in suburban and urban settings. Moreover, further research should be applied considering also other possible ecological impacts before applying TBPs for exterior lighting applications.
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Arnold, G., Mellinger, D., Markowitz, P., Burke, M., & Lahar, D. (2012). A Win-Win-Win for Municipal Street Lighting: Converting Two-Thirds of Vermont's Street Lights to LED by 2014. American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy., .
Abstract: Reducing energy costs and enhancing the nighttime environment with LED street lighting
is by now well understood. However, few municipalities and utilities have successfully taken
advantage of this opportunity to convert their street lighting operations to LEDs. Before a
system-wide conversion of existing street lights can occur, a utility must obtain the large amount
of required capital, identify appropriate LED street light equipment for their applications,
consider changes in utility rate structures, and design effective methods for recovering costs.
Using Vermont as a case study, this paper presents a partnership model among the statewide
energy efficiency utility, the state’s largest electric utilities, and several municipalities. The
model was designed to overcome the challenges to widespread LED street light conversion. By
2014, more than two-thirds of Vermont’s municipal street lights will be upgraded to LED
technology. The conversion will: (1) provide municipalities with better nighttime street lighting
and significant cost savings—at no additional capital expense to the municipalities, (2) deliver
8,000 MWh of cost-effective new savings to the energy efficiency utility, and (3) deliver
financially attractive returns for Vermont’s utilities. This win-win-win model is scalable and
replicable, and is now being considered in Massachusetts and Rhode Island
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Assum, T., Bjørnskau, T., Fosser, S., & Sagberg, F. (1999). Risk compensation--the case of road lighting. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 31(5), 545–553.
Abstract: The hypothesis of this article is that drivers will not adjust their behavior, i.e. drivers are not expected to increase their speed, reduce their concentration or travel more when road lighting is installed. The hypothesis was based on previous research showing that road lighting reduces road accidents and that average driving speeds do not increase when road lighting is installed. Our results show that drivers do compensate for road lighting in terms of increased speed and reduced concentration. Consequently, the hypothesis is rejected. This means that road lighting could have a somewhat larger accident-reducing effect, if compensation could be avoided. The fact that previous research has found no change in average speed when road lighting is introduced, seems to be explained by increased driving speeds by some drivers being counterbalanced by a larger proportion of more slowly driving groups of drivers (elderly people and women), i.e. different subgroups of road users compensate in different ways.
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Aubé, M., Roby, J., & Kocifaj, M. (2013). Evaluating potential spectral impacts of various artificial lights on melatonin suppression, photosynthesis, and star visibility. PLoS One, 8(7), e67798.
Abstract: Artificial light at night can be harmful to the environment, and interferes with fauna and flora, star visibility, and human health. To estimate the relative impact of a lighting device, its radiant power, angular photometry and detailed spectral power distribution have to be considered. In this paper we focus on the spectral power distribution. While specific spectral characteristics can be considered harmful during the night, they can be considered advantageous during the day. As an example, while blue-rich Metal Halide lamps can be problematic for human health, star visibility and vegetation photosynthesis during the night, they can be highly appropriate during the day for plant growth and light therapy. In this paper we propose three new indices to characterize lamp spectra. These indices have been designed to allow a quick estimation of the potential impact of a lamp spectrum on melatonin suppression, photosynthesis, and star visibility. We used these new indices to compare various lighting technologies objectively. We also considered the transformation of such indices according to the propagation of light into the atmosphere as a function of distance to the observer. Among other results, we found that low pressure sodium, phosphor-converted amber light emitting diodes (LED) and LED 2700 K lamps filtered with the new Ledtech's Equilib filter showed a lower or equivalent potential impact on melatonin suppression and star visibility in comparison to high pressure sodium lamps. Low pressure sodium, LED 5000 K-filtered and LED 2700 K-filtered lamps had a lower impact on photosynthesis than did high pressure sodium lamps. Finally, we propose these indices as new standards for the lighting industry to be used in characterizing their lighting technologies. We hope that their use will favor the design of new environmentally and health-friendly lighting technologies.
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Ayuga, C. E. T., & Zamorano, J. (2018). LICA AstroCalc, a software to analyze the impact of artificial light: Extracting parameters from the spectra of street and indoor lamps. Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer, 214, 33–38.
Abstract: The night sky spectra of light-polluted areas is the result of the artificial light scattered back from the atmosphere and the reemission of the light after reflections in painted surfaces. This emission comes mainly from street and decorative lamps. We have built an extensive database of lamps spectra covering from UV to near IR and the software needed to analyze them. We describe the LICA-AstroCalc free software that is a user friendly GUI tool to extract information from our database spectra or any other user provided spectrum. The software also includes the complete color database of paints from NCS comprising 1950 types. This helps to evaluate how different colors modify the reflected spectra from different lamps. All spectroscopic measurements have been validated with recommendations from CIELAB and ISO from NCS database.
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