International Dark Sky Association Newsletter

yea, the plan for a good lighting award is the way to go.

Cheers,
~Al

How about making some sort of contact with the National Roads Authority (maybe Mick O'Connell could point the right direction) and finding out their policy on lighting up every interchange in the country with energy wasteful, poorly directed and glare producing lights which dazzle drivers, let alone honk off astronomers!

You had to drag my name into it didn't you
Seriously though, it's something I'm examining at the moment actually with a couple of junctions on on a particular road project i'm currently working on where lighting design has become a bit of an issue. Unfortunately I can't go into the details here for contractural/litigation reasons but will let e-mail albert and forward on whatever contacts i have.
Michael

Missed this post earlier...

Got to agree with Sean, that is a great idea. It would be nice to see the looks on the faces of those self-important hoteliers, business-people, and so on when they get the notification of their award. On the other side though, it's not exactly going to get them on side, is it? How about doing this in conjunction with an Taisce or Duchas?

An Taisce are already on board to some extent. And no pissing off people wont get them on side.

There are a couple of problems, most people dont know anything about light pollution and see nothing wrong with pointing a 500W halogen lamp upwards to show off their building. Something ILPAC has to address.

Also, though there is nothing that we can actually do since they are not breaking any guidelines or laws buy using bad lighting. Thats where the emphasis has been directed so far. To get local authorities aware of the problem, and to get them to introduce some guidelines about lighting, and to allow people to object to planning that has bad lighting. Currently you can object to noise pollution but theres nothing wrong with me shining a halogen lamp directly into my neighbours window! Getting LP on the same level as noise plooution will take work, and will need legislation introduced, Colm is working out how best to go about approaching that.

Also there are local elections next year, so please pester your candidates about this issue. Simply put, we know there are more important issues than light pollution in the country, however tackling this problem can be done without any extra expenditure, will save money by using less energy, and provide a better wnvironment.

How about making some sort of contact with the National Roads Authority (maybe Mick O'Connell could point the right direction) and finding out their policy on lighting up every interchange in the country with energy wasteful, poorly directed and glare producing lights which dazzle drivers, let alone honk off astronomers!

Havent been in touch with the NRA, though they are on my list of peole to meet. From what I've seen on motorways they are using very powerful, but full cut off lights to illuminate motorways in many areas. Though any information you can give us Michael would be most appreciated!

Cheers,
~Al

Missed this post earlier...

Havent been in touch with the NRA, though they are on my list of peole to meet. From what I've seen on motorways they are using very powerful, but full cut off lights to illuminate motorways in many areas. Though any information you can give us Michael would be most appreciated!

Cheers,
~Al

And if the Irish NRA can't help maybe the American NRA can.