As a stargazer and lover of night skies, an innovative idea that has my vote is that of lunar-resonant streetlights. This idea - from Civil Twilight, a design collective based in San Francisco’s Mission District - calls for streetlights that could respond to the waxing and waning of the moon throughout the month. The lights would dim and brighten as the moon cycles through its phases. In other words, according to the designers, on clear nights at full moon, these streetlights might even turn off completely.
This idea won this year’s Next Generation award from Metropolis magazine. According to the magazine, “the proposal for lunar-resonant streetlights captured the jurors’ imaginations with an inspiring combination of poetry and practicality.”
Who can argue with that? I remember a night decades ago - while visiting in Colorado - when I traveled with a friend by motorcycle from one small mountain town to another, around the time of a full moon. For part of our journey, my friend switched off the motorcycle’s headlights, and we traveled along that lonely road, with the road ahead and the landscape all around flooded by bright moonlight. It was more than beautiful. It was enchanting. I’ve never forgotten it.
As a stargazer, I know how much light the moon can add to the sky and how much it can cast on the ground. And I know how much the moon’s brightness can vary. At a first quarter or last quarter moon, for example, when the moon is in the sky for only half the night, it’s easy (if you’re in a place not hindered by streetlights) to notice how much the moon illuminates the landscape.
By the way, the designers say that lunar-resonant streetlights “could save as much as 80–90 percent of the energy used in streetlighting …”
And of course there’s the issue of crime. Does bright urban lighting help prevent crime? I know that outdoor lighting helps me feel safe. But among astronomers - who for decades have struggled with the issue of light pollution - it’s sometimes said that outdoor urban lighting doesn’t really increase our safety. Instead, it only makes us feel safe. Also, consider the first comment on the article about lunar-resonant streetlights. Joan Soo said:
Is it in your plan to have the wavelength of the street lights be the same wavelength as moonlight, or at least the color of the ambient light during civil twilight? Our bodies are designed to respond to light at civil twilight wavelengths by slowing down and preparing for rest. Serotonin begins its cascade into melatonin. We sleep. If uninterrupted by the day-wave-length bathroom light or continually assaulted by the street light outside, some of the melatonin eventually cascades into dopamine. This is really good thing. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if crime and violence rates went down with your lighting plan; because, people were getting enough of the right kind of sleep?
I don’t know about that.
But I do know that often now - while moving around at night in my city, with artificial lights glaring from every direction - I remember that moonlit drive across a lonely mountain road from so many decades ago. I hope I’ll live to see lunar-resonant streetlights come to my hometown.
In response, is a position on where to place steps, or in what direction to veiw. The observation in poetic style; Moonlight reflecting emotional control or vice versa, takes precedence. There, in the city as well as any place on Earth, is risk by simply walking outside the door. I want to thank you for sharing a view point that, deems a focus, on a position that starts with safety.
Thank you,
Guy
Is this based solely on the phases of the moon? Because, what about clouds? Here In Vermont where it is cloudy often, a full moon night might not be very bright because of clouds. I don’t care what you’ve heard about moonlight in Vermont, we don’t have that
many cloud free full moon nights.
Guy, I agree … there’s risk by simply walking outside the door. I sometimes wonder if the shadows created by the glare of regular streetlights might give criminals a great place to hide!
Tom, it’s my understanding that these lights take the issue of clouds into account. They work based on overall sky brightness, so that, if it’s cloudy and the moonlight can’t shine through, the streetlights stay on …
Best to all!
Deborah
How very cool! I can’t believe I never knew about this till now. I’ll have to get the word out. Thanks Deborah!
Bruce
You’re welcome Bruce! I find it incredibly cool, too.
But I wonder if people less familiar with the sky than you or me wouldn’t find it cool at all. Who, besides stargazers, stands outside on a clear night - away from city lights - on a night of a bright moon vs. a night of no moon? Maybe most people don’t have the right kinds of experiences with the night sky, that could let them understand how incredibly bright moonlight can be!
Is that a correct assumption? I’m not sure. What about campers? Do campers notice how bright the moon can be?
Deborah
Moonlight can be an incredibly bright source of light. True it is not constant but it behooves us to take as much advantage of anything that’s “free”. We will still need the good old street light but on some nights that can be dimmer and on really bright moonlit nights can probably be shut down. Any energy saved is worth the effort. For my part of the country where most nights ar clear this would work very well. I’m sure there are places where it would not do much good but anytime you can save a kilowatt hour you’ve done a good thing.
The city where I live - Austin, Texas - opted to build what they called moonlight towers instead of regular streetlights around the turn of the last century. Some of these old towers still stand. They were said to cast a lovely light, very much like moonlight …
This seems like a great energy-saver. Every little bit helps.
This seems like a great idea for city dwellers. If this provides lighting like a full moon maybe more urbanites would actually be able to see the night sky and become stargazers too. Of course, any sailor, pilot, farmer or person living in a rural area already experiences moon lit nights.
I love the positive responses to this idea. I know it struck a chord in me as well …
Thank you all,
Deborah
Thanks Deborah for posting this! It’s a very interesting, innovative idea indeed, but I can imagine it’s limitations. For example, physical features like hills and cliffs could potentially block natural moonlight from illuminating certain areas, in which these moonlight-sensitive streetlights would be on permanently. But the concept is fantastic!
This is an incredible idea. Learn more about light pollution at www.britelitesout.com
Tucson, Arizona even has city ordinances to limit light pollution. They are also home to the International Dark-Sky Organization http://www.darksky.org/ with the mission to preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies. I love that there are organizations working on innovations to protect and utilize nature and its cycles opposed to dominate it.
I am glad you did finally mention the moonlights of Austin. A really nice idea, and maybe one that should be revived (and had fewer of the hard shadows you noticed).
That would work well with the controlled lighting you described.
In astronomy areas, such as the island of Hawai’i, lights are restricted in several ways, and all streetlights are sodium vapor, which the observatories easily filter out.
George Curtis, UH
What an awesome idea. The moonlight is very cool and I think more people would notice if we did have these types of lights.
Hi George! Yes, Austin’s old moon towers, as they’re commonly called, are beloved here.
I would love to live in a place where lighting is restricted.
I live in a town with out any street lights however there are only five residences and seven people. Traveling on a mountain road at night on a motor cycle without lights? Here in the Black Hills of SD You would probably be killed from hitting a deer or other four legged animal. Several people die that way every year. One could always pull off to the side of the road and really enjoy the moonlight. but that’s just me
Yes Deborah campers do notice the night sky, At least for my family that is one of the reason for getting away from city life.(when We did live in CA) Here where I live now the milky way looks like a plume of smoke across the moonless night sky.
Imagine getting a proper night’s sleep in real darkness that would allow our normal daily hormone cycle to function. As photoperiodeffect.com describes, we could be saving more than energy, we could be saving a lot of lives if we decided we weren’t nocturnal creatures in the first place.
Skinwalker and Russell … sorry for the slow delay in approving your comments! I went on vacation around August 10 … got back around August 20 … but am only now catching up with things.
All best,
Deborah