|
 |
 |
By Linda Copman
|
 |
| Photo: Spectra of lights near Waimea. Photo
by Derrick Salmon of Canda France Hawai‘i Telescope. |
A dark night sky is of critical importance to researchers on
Mauna Kea because artificial light reduces the effective size
of the telescopes. A growing population around Hawai‘i Island
threatens the dark night sky over Mauna Kea, as more homes
and businesses install artificial lighting and more streets
are constructed and lit with streetlights. One way to think
about this is to consider daytime. The stars are still there
in the sky during the day, but we can't see them because the
sky is too bright. The photos below show the contrast between
the way the night sky looks on Kailua, a town located on the
windward coast of O‘ahu, and Mauna Kea on Hawai‘i Island. The
contrast shows what can happen when proper controls on artificial
lighting are not enacted or enforced.
 |
|
 |
| Photos: Mauna Kea (left) and
Kailua, O‘ahu (right). Both photos were taken by Richard
Wainscoat using the same exposure. Copyright 2006 Richard
Wainscoat. |
Richard Wainscoat, an astronomer at the Institute for Astronomy
at the University of Hawai‘i, has been working to preserve
Hawai‘i’s dark skies for the past five years. In April Wainscoat
attended the Starlight 2007 Conference in La Palma, Canary
Islands, Spain. Upon his return to Hawai‘i Island, Wainscoat
remarked, “We are still in relatively good shape on Mauna Kea.
La Palma, site of the Gran Telescopio Canarias which opens
in June 2007, does not have quite as dark a sky as Mauna Kea.
This is because La Palma has more streetlights contained within
a small land mass, roughly 273 square miles versus 4,038 square
miles on Hawai‘i Island. At an altitude of 4,200 meters, the
Mauna Kea observatories are significantly higher than the Roque
de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma, at an altitude of
2,400 meters. The air above Mauna Kea is thinner too, meaning
it is less able to scatter back artificial light.”
 |
| Photo: A poorly lit US flag at Kailua Public
Library on O‘ahu. The light should be directed only at
the flag; with this amount of glare, you can hardly see
the flag. If properly lit, the energy savings would be
90-95%. Photo by Richard Wainscoat. |
Wainscoat has been working with Ron Laub, light pollution control
specialist at the Institute for Astronomy, and Mike Maberry
at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, to advocate for better
legislation aimed at controlling light pollution at the State
level. With strong support from Senators Kalani English, Lorraine
Inouye, and Rosalyn Baker, and Representatives Joe Souki and
Marcus Oshiro, House
Bill 155 (HB155) passed during the recent legislative session.
HB155 provides a framework at the State level for improving
lighting at airports, harbors, and on State highways. HB155
requires the State Department of Transportation to comply with
County outdoor lighting ordinances that are more stringent
than other laws and regulations at these facilities for all
new installations of outdoor lighting, “to the extent practicable.” Ongoing
advocacy at the legislature will be required, however, to obtain
necessary funding to retrofit some of the worst lights at these
facilities.
Wainscoat’s team is also working with the Army to retrofit
some of the high wattage lighting at the Pohakuloa Training
facility, also located in close proximity to Mauna Kea.
At the County level, Wainscoat and his team would like to see
the County lighting ordinance updated, to ensure that for new
development on the island, all new lighting is fully shielded
and is no brighter than necessary. The current ordinance, enacted
in 1989, requires that low-pressure sodium lights be at least
partially shielded, and that all other types of light are fully
shielded. Fully shielded lights emit no light above the horizontal
plane.
 |
|
 |
| Photos: A bad (dirty) street
light on O‘ahu (left), and a fully shielded (good) street
light on O‘ahu (right). Photos by Richard Wainscoat. |
Wainscoat’s team is hoping that the County Council will commit
to retrofitting, where possible, existing unshielded lights
around the island. The Waimea streetlight project is a good
example of what Wainscoat has in mind. County Council Chair
Pete Hoffmann recently allocated $20,000 in County funding
to retrofit 40 streetlights in Waimea town with fully shielded
fixtures. This project will reduce light pollution in Waimea
and on the summit of Mauna Kea, and produce energy savings
for the County.
“Waimea is the closest town to Mauna Kea, so it is an ideal choice for this project.
I would like to see Waimea town's streetlights replaced by fully shielded fixtures.
These are fixtures that send all of their light downwards. Light sent upward
is completely wasted and interferes with the observatories. Because the new lights
will be sending all of their light downwards, it should be possible to replace
some of the higher wattage (180 Watt) fixtures with lower wattage (90 Watt) fixtures,
thereby saving energy and operating expenses for the County. And because they
emit only small amounts of light close to the horizontal direction, the new streetlights
cause much less glare. Drivers in Waimea should experience significantly improved
visibility when driving through the town at night,” explains Wainscoat.
 |
|
 |
| Photos: Image of Hawai‘i from
the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (left). Photo
of Waimea and Waikoloa at night from the International
Space Station by Ed Lu (right). |
”I felt that Waimea would be a good location
to install the new lights as a ‘pilot location’ for an
effort that I’m certain will have island-wide impacts.
Further, it made sense to me to see this effort initiated
in the district of Kohala, for the immediate benefit of
my constituents who live and work here. Finally, if I waited
for the County to allocate resources for this project in
the General Fund or the Capital Improvements Fund, we might
all be dead before the new lights were finally installed.
The use of my Contingency Relief Account, which is specifically
earmarked for projects in the County that I wish to support,
makes for a quicker process. We should see the new lights
before my term is over in December 2008.” — Hawai‘i
County Council Chairperson Pete Hoffmann.
Wainscoat has his sights set on Waikoloa Village as the next
community to have its streetlights retrofitted. Waikoloa, also
in close proximity to Mauna Kea, is among the high-priority
sites targeted by Wainscoat and his dark skies team.
Another prong of Wainscoat’s efforts is to improve enforcement
of the existing County lighting ordinance. “There are a lot
of non-conforming lights out there,” says Wainscoat.
“How much light does it take to sell a car
at night? The Hilo car sales lots can be seen from the
Space Station. A huge challenge is the use of lights for
advertising. For example, some Hilo businesses illuminate
their roofs, but this is not allowed under the lighting
ordinance. Many of the car rental agencies at the Kona
Airport have lights that do not conform to the ordinance.
There is certainly enough enforcement work to keep a building
(lighting) inspector busy for years. But they'd need to
work at night, and I don't think any of the County building
inspectors work at night!” — Richard Wainscoat
 |
| Photo: Bayfront Highway in Hilo. On the
left and extreme right are the "old" partially shielded
lights that the County plans to replace, and in the middle,
a fully shielded light. The fully shielded light produces
much less glare, and therefore increases visibility by
reducing an unnecessary distraction. Photo by Richard
Wainscoat. |
Richard Schleicher, a Kona resident, recently took the lead
on advocating for better lighting policies within the County
from the standpoint of a private citizen. Schleicher successfully
persuaded the County’s Department of Parks and Recreation to
turn off the lights at the Kona ball field when they were not
in use. Aside from positively influencing the dark skies over
his community, Schleicher’s actions resulted in greater energy
efficiency for the County. It’s a win-win situation. Here’s
what happened:
 |
| Photo: George Mehl Foothills District Park
on River Road in Tucson, featuring “pretty good” lighting
at the baseball fields on the left and “very good” lighting
at the soccer field on the right of the photo. Photo
courtesy of www.musco.com. |
“My wife Joan and I live in Keauhou Estates
where our nighttime exposure to the very bright ball field
lights lasted until 11:00 pm each evening. So I had selfish
reasons to address the light pollution problem beyond my
interest in Keck Observatory. I e-mailed and called several
people at the County: Ron Thiel, Brian Kajikawa, Patricia
Engelhard, and Ron Borkowski. I told each of these individuals
that the intense lights were on every night long past our
bedtime and that the ballgames never lasted until 11:00
pm. I explained to them that more often than not, there
was no ballgame, and that I had witnessed many a night
with no activity on the ball field. I also pointed out
the huge waste of taxpayer money to keep this particular
type of light bulb burning and recommended that they install
a much more energy-efficient bulb. Lastly, I pointed out
that we have a County lighting ordinance that requires
mitigation of light pollution for the benefit of the Mauna
Kea observatories. I told them that I found it ironic that
the government would break their own law. I can only guess
who it was that was responsible for turning the ball field
lights off two days later. The lights have not been turned
back on since.” — Richard Schleicher, friend of Keck
Observatory
Read the Declaration
in Defence of the Night Sky and the Right to Starlight,
adopted in April 2007 at the Starlight Conference in La Palma,
Canary Islands, Spain. 
Click here to return to the main
page. |
|
|
 |
|
