A collision of music and light

At historic RCA Studios in Nashville are some curious lights. They were historic mood setters for Elvis and his band. In one song, Elvis had the lights turned out and the musicians tracked the song in total darkness. At the end of the song, Elvis hit his head on the vocal mic. It’s in the recording if you listen!

In my own recording studio, I use Philips Hue LED lighting to set the mood when I record. The Hue lights provide beautiful colors and effects easily and adjust to whatever light level required. In addition, lava lamps, LED candle pillars, pilot lights and VU meters, and a star globe provide additional lighting, all to support the creative recording process. One time, I recorded a vocal in almost total darkness to get the feeling of being with a person in prison and how that would feel. Light is a tool for me. It can help stir imagination and give expressive performances.

Playing music live, recording and songwriting are part of me. For many years, my whole life has been immersed in music and production. Eventually, subjects that matter deeply to me are expressed through music. My faith is expressed through writing and playing music used in worship. In addition, my worldview on conservation and taking care of the earth is expressed through the language of music. Currently, complex theatrical style lighting is often used in the congregational worship setting, and certainly so in concert settings. Light, music, and musicians have a long relationship.

Faith, Music and the Loss of the Stars

As expected, topics and passion for things that are important to me eventually do show up in my songwriting. My worldview is expressed through music. I deeply care about the subject matter I sing about and write about here.

Over the last couple of weeks, a new song took shape and is called Lament for the Stars. It reflects my deep sadness over the creeping loss of the stars and night sky. It happed so slowly not many people noticed. In my new soon to be released song, my faith, my concern for conservation and preservation, and my music all collide. I will update my blog and provide links when the song is released in the next few days.

Lament for the Stars
Words and Music by Mark Grosz, Lil Wolf Productions c2020

I couldn’t see my stars tonight,
Someone has painted light across the sky.
At first it didn’t matter 'till I realized,
The paint got in my eye

It’s all about commerce.
It’s all about making a buck.
No matter what it does,
No matter who it harms.
It’s all about commerce.
It’s all about lightin’ up.
No matter what it does,
No matter who it harms.

Butterflies and fireflies,
The beauty of the night is so passé .
And who would think the loss of night,
Should cause us pause,
Such blindness whose mistake?

Beauty was in the eye of the beholder.

– Mark

⭐️ Please take a little time and submit an observation during the dates for February and March! ✨

Globe at Night is both cool citizen science and STEM. Observations are easy and will lead to kids to be curious about the night sky, stars, and a lot of other subjects. Print off a couple of the charts and head outside with a red night vision saving flashlight and see which chart matches the number of stars you can see in the constellation. The webapp is easy to use, contains no identifying data other than your observation location. You will be participating as data input for valid science research. It takes only a few minutes to do! Go outside! The stars are waiting for you!

Globe at Night

Globe at Night Campaign Dates and Constellations

Globe at Night Webapp

Easy as 𝛑

Check your observation location is correct, check the box under the map. Click on the chart that looks like the stars you can see from your location. Click on the sky condition choice. Enter any location or sky condition comments you might have. If you have a Sky Quality Meter, you can also take a reading. Enter the reading and the serial number of your unit. Hit Submit!

Mark

And are we next on the list?

With the current interest in the media about fireflies and the stress light pollution from artificial light at night sources, I’ve collected a number of articles and research. Check out the Environmental section of my Resources Page for the articles, including a BBC Radio-cast documentary with people from Karachi, Pakistan. In one generation, the fireflies are gone, even from their expected habitats. Children are told stories and poems, and culture is informed by the writings and fables about fireflies. Unfortunately, none of the children in and around Karachi, Pakistan will ever actually see one. They are gone. This follows the unnatural negative effects of artificial lighting on an entire species. Note the lifestyle change of the people commented on by the people interviewed and that there is little hope for going back. Is that what we want in the US? I don’t believe that is progress. Very sad.

Maybe this summer, when the sun goes down, like the guests on the BBC Radio broadcast, maybe we can just go outside, sleep under the stars, if we can still find them, and hope to see some fireflies while we still can.

The natural world is so much more beautiful and complex than anything created by the hand of man. Even Leonardo da Vinci was an amateur compared to the hand of nature. Thomas Edison’s light is nothing compared to that of the stars, night skies and fireflies.

Mark

The problem

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Carlisle had a very nice Ice Fest event downtown this weekend. Ice carvings by local artists were on display throughout the downtown Carlisle streets and the shops and restaurants were buzzing with activity. While the event and it’s family friendly atmosphere was really a fun time, it gave me a chance to observe and consider Carlisle’s vintage style acorn lights so common to many downtowns in our area.

Vintage acorn lights capture the look of years gone past in downtown shopping areas and they look cool. Unfortunately, vintage acorn style light fixtures are the poster children for poor light distribution and are the most wasteful lighting type available. Their circular base at the bottom of the glass envelope blocks light from lighting the sidewalk and street underneath. The height of the pole and size of the base determine the size of the shadow underneath the light fixture. The lack of substantial lighting on the walks is evident in the photos, along with the excessive levels on the walls of the buildings. The main purpose of these lights was to light the buildings so people could see the businesses and business signage. They are not useful or the proper luminaires for lighting sidewalks or streets. Most models are also the worst kind of lighting to use if you are concerned about light pollution and energy waste.

Entirely missing the purpose of street lighting, acorn style lighting mainly illuminates people’s first or second floor dwellings. Even worse, the poor light distribution on the walks and street require the light level to be increased to make up for the poor directional light control from the acorn light envelope. Not only is light wasted, energy is wasted. While LEDs, are more energy efficient in a one to one comparison, still over 70% of the light and therefore the energy is wasted. A simple internal reflector inside the glass envelope would reduce the energy required to run whatever light source you choose by 2/3rd’s or more, and give you the same amount of light on the street and walks as is there currently.

One of the acorn lights pictured is a high CCT LED. The LED acorn lamp is lighting up the front of someone’s house and living spaces in light of the worst spectrum for human health you can use.

Problem Summary

• poor light distribution and control
• large shadow underneath due to base
• requires more energy and higher light levels to reach required light levels on street and sidewalks, wastes 2/3rd’s of the produced light
• light people’s homes, inside and out
• worst source of upward light and cause of light pollution unless shielded on top
• worst type of light for controlling light trespass into homes and minimizing human health effects (all spectra of light can cause human health issues and certain spectra carries higher risks than others)

One Potential Solution

Please note Carlisle’s vintage acorn lights do have one positive feature. I believe they are almost full cutoff due to the uplight blocking top shield. This would stop the majority of light from going up. I don’t believe the top shield is reflective or the light level on the walks would be much better. The majority of the light from these lights still is out to the side rather than down, where the task is. Maybe the look of lights is considered first, instead of a definition of what the purpose of the light is and what task it is supposed to illuminate.

In searching for internal shields to use with the vintage acorn lights, I ran across this simple shield. I am sure there are other versions of this by other companies. This is just one I found that could maybe provide a solution to the problems associated with the vintage acorn lights

• keep the vintage look, preserve the investment in the street lighting fixtures
• direct the light produced by the luminaire to where it is needed
• provide relief to the residents who live in the downtown buildings
• save energy and money
• better for the environment and people’s health

Dark Sky Reflector for Large Acorn Globe Light

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Comments?

It would be great to hear from anyone who has experience with adding internal shields to existing vintage acorn lighting, especially if it concerned LED retrofits.

Mark

It’s important to know. Good lighting practices begin at home. I’ve often suggested for designers and installers to walk away from their work, over into the dark and look back on their lighting. For the benefit of your neighbors, when implementing outside lighting for your home, walk across the street or go to the adjoining darker area and look back at your property. Only dark adapted eyes will give you a proper perspective on how your lighting affects other people’s properties and lives.

While streetlights and building/parking lot lighting are the major players in the light pollution/energy waste problem, we can all help with light pollution by taking a look at our own residential lighting. It’s like having your own garden and growing your own vegetables. Satisfaction can be found when you do a good job with your own outside residential lighting.

Need some help? Assess your own residential lighting design by following this flowchart from International Dark Sky Association. See if you can improve your residential lighting to be safer and more beautiful, and be more energy efficient to boot! Be a responsible lighter!

Click to access Home-Lighting-Assessment-Print.pdf

Mark

 

I saw this at a store during Christmas shopping.  It was a globe that lit up just like the real thing – showing the light pollution and wasted energy.

Discover is a loaded word.  Tonight, I read some articles that led me to Travis Longcore’s site, and then the section on light pollution Travis Longcore, Light Pollution

I think there is enough reading to keep me busy for quite awhile.  I’d encourage others looking into light pollution to go visit Travis’s site.

The article that led the way to his site…

Chicago, the Night Should Not Look Like the Day

I’ve also added a number of links to the resources page.  Enjoy…

Mark

 

 

This is the view on the Carlisle Pike, near Mechanicsburg.  The lights are from all the car dealers.  Funny thing is, many of them are high end cars from foreign places.  Their lights are anything BUT high end.  Obnoxious and intrusive, they light the sky and blot out the stars in places miles away.  The other night, I was able to pick out the light reflecting off North Mountain, from almost 18 miles away!

On a more positive note, I added some very good resources.  A nice video by Kelsey Johnson and links to the National Park Service and their Night Skies Division’s website with a lot of great resources.  Check out my Resources page!

Please check out Globe at Night, also on the Resource Page.  It is important for more people to help out collecting data so researcher can accurately determine the rate at which light pollution is increasing.  It’s easy and an activity families can do together.  It would also make a nice science project for schools.

 

 

 

 

For a Dark Sky Advocate, the opportunities abound in our area.  On the way home tonight, I found a Food Mart quick gas stop in the center of Boiling Springs, PA.  It’s being renovated and the lighting is amazingly bad.  I didn’t have my light meter along so I used by iPhone apps.  It’s not exact, as you can see by the spectrum analysis, but the level probably close – if you almost double the lux level because of the meter spectral mismatch error.

The 8000K CCT light, probably running almost 2000 lux, is just ONE of the lights.  This one is pointing out into the lane of a main street and is blinding to drivers, who in a minute will be out into farmland where there are no streetlights.  It is bright enough to easily read the fine print on a Chinese restaurant menu.

I propose the Food Mart parking lot should be the new meeting location of the Boiling Springs literary society.  People can bring lawn chairs and read books and poetry to each other all night long, under blazing blue-white lighting.  Make sure to bring covers for your drinks during the spring and summer as it will be raining dead bugs.  I hope that the fish in the stream will have some bugs left to eat.  Maybe someone can sweep them up at the end of the night and throw them back in the stream for the trout to eat.

Seriously, how much light is really needed in such an environmentally sensitive place?  Did anyone pay attention to the spectrum of the lighting? Another big question is, what is the task in the parking lot?  Sorry, but 2000 lux is about 50-100 times the requirement for lighting such a small parking lot.  This is just ONE of the lights at the site.

The spectrum should be 2700 or less because of the trout in a protected lake and stream and lighting levels 100 lux or less (less is more in this case).  Boiling Springs lake is a treasure for the community, maybe the county.  The Appalachian Trail passes just a short distance away.

I will have to bring out my light meter to take some better readings.  I can tell you, it’s very bright, blindingly bright.  It may be the brightest, single light in Cumberland County! Situations like this is why local lighting ordinances need brought up to date.  I feel bad for the people who live close by.

To know why this matters, go to my resources page and read some of the links under Human Health and the Environmental Health sections.  Most current finds are at the tops of those sections.

If you stop at the Sweet Stop for ice cream in the evening, make sure to wear your-blue blocker glasses.  Maybe just bring your sunglasses.

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

Tonight, I drove to Carlisle for an appointment.  I got to see their new streetlights.  Month’s ago, I wrote to Carlisle Borough to provide information on why their choice of streetlights had problems and to offer solutions and alternatives.  Well, I can see they have way more problems then I ever imagined back then.

My first impression on coming into town from Mechanicsburg was the intense glare I had to endure from every one of the new streetlights.  It is like someone has their high beams shining in your eyes, making you want to turn your eyes from the direction of travel.  The standard of replacing lights is to retrofit one for one because of the cost.  When retrofitting older technology, the LEDs with optics don’t spread the light far enough to cover the same amount of street as the older lighting did, so they need to cranked up very bright.  LED’s glare is already a problem.  To run them so bright is irresponsible.  This is called disability glare, by the way.

I believe an approximate figure for LED energy savings is about 40%.  If you have to double the number of lights to get the same coverage aas previous technology then what is the real savings from converting to LED street lights?  Where is the savings?

On the way back home, I traveled down South Street.  Light-glare-dark, light-glare-dark, light-glare-dark…. and halfway down the street I barely see a faint figure crossing the street in front of me.   The person was just perfectly placed in one of the glare zones.  A lady, carrying a couple bags of groceries was hidden in the intense glare.  I almost hit her!  She was almost invisible.

South Street borders the Letort.  In my original email, I suggested using amber LEDs because the Letort stream area was an environmentally sensitive area.  The blue white LEDs have the most impact on the environment of any other light technology.  Amber LEDs cost no more, provide just as much light, are just as efficient.  Amber LEDs have none of the health or environmental issues associated with high kelvin CCT LEDs.

My email also suggested close attention should be paid to the human health effects from blue-white high Kelvin CCT LED lighting.  I’m sure Carlisle residents will be pleased to find out Carlisle chose some of the worst lighting possible for human health.

Carlisle already has some of the worst light pollution in Cumberland County.  The skyglow dome is visible for miles.  It’s not healthy in any fashion.  The new street lighting in Carlisle is not safe for pedestrians, drivers, or residents who live along the streets with the new lights installed.  It’s just plain nonsense, very sad, and totally irresponsible.

Mark