Poorly implemented outdoor lighting and other sources of light pollution can disrupt ecosystems, waste energy, and rob us of starry skies.
At their core, dark sky lighting principles are pretty simple. You don't necessarily need expensive lighting consultants or over-priced 'dark sky compliant' light fittings to do the right thing.
You can use many affordable LED lighting products - deployed wisely - to implement dark-sky-friendly lighting. Here's how:
1) Direct All Light Downward
This might sound overly obvious, but the first step is to ensure that outdoor lighting is directed where it's needed, not up to the sky.
LED lighting is better at this than older incandescent, high-intensity discharge (HID) and fluorescent lighting. Compared to these old lighting technologies, LED lights are more directional and have less light spillage or 'light trespass' into surrounding areas.
Be sure to mount LED floodlights and streetlights at an angle where all their light output is well below the horizontal plane.
2) Use Warm White Colour Temperatures
There's a tendency to use bright and stark colour temperatures outdoors, particularly for security lighting. This is precisely the wrong approach for dark sky lighting. Aim for all your outdoor lights to be 3000K or lower on the colour temperature scale.
Warm white lights minimise the blue light content of lights, which can be disruptive to some animals (and humans).
Thankfully, key products like our Philips LED floodlights now have a tri-colour switch, allowing you to select a warm white temperature.
Another approach is to use smart LED lighting. These lights have even more granular control, allowing for a drop in colour temperature as low as 2000K, a very warm white or amber light.
3) Only Use Lights When Needed
Often, areas that only need to be lit for minutes are lit for hours - or even worse, all night.
The best strategy here is to use motion sensor lights instead of always-on lighting wherever possible.
Other options include using lights that dim down when no one is in the area, or location-aware smart lights like Philips Hue.
4) Minimise Lit Areas & Total Brightness
Although LED lighting has many advantages, one downside is that people tend to over-spec the wattage (and therefore brightness) when switching to LED.
When you used to buy a 500-watt halogen light but can now get the same or more brightness from a 50-watt LED light, it can be hard to make the correct choice.
Also, the amount of light actually needed to promote safe movement in an otherwise dark area is minimal.
Use our free online lighting calculators to explore beam angle, lumens to lux, and more. Our lumens to lux calculator includes a basic light-level guide per application.
Make The Switch to Dark Sky Lighting
Conduct a night-time lighting audit to uncover all poorly-directed, cool-white colour temperature, and always-on light fittings at your home or workplace. Use a lux meter to review if your outdoor lit areas are running over-spec to requirements.
Replace the worst offenders with warm-toned, well-considered, timed or sensor-activated solutions. Sometimes, you can retrofit existing fixtures by adding shields or installing an in-line sensor rather than replacing the whole light fitting.
