James Harvey
Environmental Seminars
Instructor Khan-Bureau
4/20/14
Bob Crelin
Bob Crelin is an author, songwriter, and an inventor. He’s a Dark Skies activist and an amateur astronomer. His award-winning, original product design for Gibraltar Drum Hardware, Gretsch Drums, Takamine Guitars, Ovation Guitars & Dixon Drums has influenced the look of musical instruments and accessories worldwide. Bob's popular first book, There Once was a Sky Full of Stars is now in its third printing. His unique new book, Faces of the Moon is in its second printing, and set the stage for Bob's companion Moon Gazers' Wheel invention. He has been interviewed for, and written many feature articles on outdoor lighting regulation and design. In 2004, Bob was honored with the Astronomical League’s Walter Scott Houston Award for his years of devotion, working to preserve the night sky for our children. Bob’s award-winning, ‘night sky-friendly’ light fixture, The GlareBuster, is changing the way homeowners light their homes. Bob is also an avid songwriter and has produced and recorded music for over 30 years
Light can be a very beneficial aid in helping us see in the dark. They light the roadways, our houses, cars use them, and they’re even used to light advertisements. However, despite the pluses that light can make true, it can also be very detrimental as Bob stated. According to him, the illumination that we use is lighting up the sky and wiping out. The transition between daylight to nighttime began to change when Thomas Edison introduced the light bulb in the late 1800’s; a way for us now to be able to use the night like we use the day. Bob mentioned that the first attempts of this actually tried to “create the sun” by creating these tall towers with arc lamps that cascaded light onto their towns, though they didn’t work that well. There were even exhibitions and, according to Bob, one introduced the effects of outdoor lighting and it started a new era of lighting.
In addition, The New Era in Street Lighting was a book in 1918 and was a guide of how to use outdoor lighting. According to that book, “as a first result of this study, it was apparent that the light above the horizontal must be conserved and sent downward,” and “glare serves seriously to reduce the discerning power of the eye. Details and more distant objects can be equally well seen at much lower illuminations and hence at much lower costs when glare is minimalized.” But, even with this in mind, the dark became frightening for people from the introduction of light, according to Bob. As a result, Edison made a larger light bulb mainly to be utilized for bright, outdoor lighting. As the industry was going, in 1948, there was marketing that enhanced the need for lighting. Cars were now on the streets and there were muggings and purse-snatchings that made those streets unsafe for women. So with lighting, cars could see civilians and dark areas could be illuminated. However, Bob stated that we’re all doing this to “serve the eye” and he’s right.
Light levels are what the eye is going to respond to the only way it knows how. We’re surrounded by daylight and our eyes are used to it and know it well, which is what the eye is built for. But, according to Bob, when you’re in darkness, you’re surrounded by it. With the outdoor lighting that is out there, it’s becoming a blind-zone with glare and doesn’t work efficiently, but the eye still responds to the brightest thing. For example, Bob stated that compared to one light in a restaurant parking lot and an auto dealership, our eyes will be drawn to the brighter and more inviting car dealership that has much more light and is closer to sunlight itself. Gas/service stations also have bright light canopies and fast food restaurants as well where people will flock to the business because of a “safe” factor when they see that the area is well lit. On the other hand, these lights can create high amounts of glare and even create blind spots on reads as they are lit up.
In addition, lights can also be trespassers as well by lighting areas a person normally wouldn’t want lit. Bob stated that a light that stays lit outside of a closed store can light up an apartment building next door where people are usually sleeping. Light also uses a significant amount of energy and we’re wasting it. According to Bob, from the way we’re using light, much energy is being wasted in keeping them on, lighting more than the area we actually want lit. In dark areas, manmade illumination can be seen over horizons and Bob stated that on a cloudy night, the clouds can act as a screen that shows the exact amount of light that’s going up. There is an enormous amount of energy being wasted and going up toward the sky, which also costs a lot of money. There’s even an estimate that 30% of lighting is going skyward; billboards, for example, where lighting completely misses them and goes straight toward the sky instead. This could stem from the theory that light = security, as Bob stated. If there is a problem, then more light should be put up. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. According to Bob K-Mart parking lot, even though it was lit, drew the most thugs out of an entire state because the lighting that’s providing security can also lead to thugs being able to see as they break into cars or other things.
In addition to that, Chicago had a test where they had 90 watt lights lighting up sections where the worst crimes were committed where they could see even more, and upgraded the lights also. But the violence and property indexes increased with the brighter lights. Criminals were even interviewed about what the best deterrent was for preventing burglaries and they said dogs mostly and alarm systems, which came second. Lighting was nowhere on the list. Too much lighting can also have noticeable environmental impacts. According to Bob, at a Burger King, there were really bright lights that caused trees to not change color in the fall where they normally do. There was also an incident with Las Vegas’s sky beam, which comes from a pyramid and shoots to the sky in a concentrated light. From such a strong light, it attracted birds and they flew around trying to find where the daylight is even when it’s night, which caused a lot of them to die on the ground from exhaustion because they’re flying when they usually don’t fly. People are even thinking that they’re UFO’s because of the way they circle the light and reflect it. The same problem has occurred with sea turtles also, because when they hatch, they become confused because they crawl to the brightest thing that they see instead of the ocean.
Fortunately, there are ways that these problems can be prevented because, according to Bob you can have light and a nice night sky by shielding light and making it much easier to deal with where you are actually shining the light down and not looking exactly at the bulb. Laws have even been passed for more lights to have shaded fixtures when they need to be replaced to have the light shining directly down. Bob also stated that the shading is also decreasing the amount of watts used. For example, he said that one car dealership actually used 9,000 watts for the entire dealership, which is three polls of lights in a dealership that uses 3,000 watts for each pole. So by saving energy, reducing the amount of lighting used, and making that lighting that’s used effective, money can be saved, the energy demand can increase, and more people can get a healthy sleep without having to worry about intrusive lights. Our impact on nature can also be reduced and our view of the night skies can be restored. We always thought of light as a bright helper, but it turns out that without the proper methods, it can be more of an antagonist than an ally.