An Investigation of LED Street Lighting's Impact on Sky Glow

Technical Report · Tue Apr 25 04:00:00 EDT 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1418092· OSTI ID:1418092

Kinzey, Bruce R. ^[1]; Perrin, Tess E. ^[1]; Miller, Naomi J. ^[1]; Kocifaj, Miroslav ^[1]; Aube, Martin ^[1]; Lamphar, Hector A. ^[1]

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1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

A significant amount of public attention has recently focused on perceived impacts of converting street lighting from incumbent lamp-based products to LED technology. Much of this attention pertains to the higher content of short wavelength light (commonly referred to as "blue light") of LEDs and its attendant influences on sky glow (a brightening of the night sky that can interfere with astronomical observation and may be associated with a host of other issues). The complexity of this topic leads to common misunderstandings and misperceptions among the public, and for this reason the U.S. Department of Energy Solid-State Lighting Program embarked on a study of sky glow using a well-established astronomical model to investigate some of the primary factors influencing sky glow. This report details the results of the investigation and attempts to present those results in terms accessible to the general lighting community. The report also strives to put the results into a larger context, and help educate interested readers on various topics relevant to the issues being discussed.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1418092
• Report Number(s): PNNL--26411; BT0301000
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
LED Street Lighting
Sky Glow
Solid State Lighting
blue light