What AEP can do about Light Pollution

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What is Light Pollution

1) Energy Waste – Light shining outward and upward into the sky is wasted.

2) Glare – Obtrusive and inappropriately applied outdoor lighting generates glare.

3) Light Trespass – Light that spills onto your property, without your consent.

4) Environment – Lights at night confuse and harm animals and birds, and distresses trees, and excessive CO2 emissions.

5) Urban Sky Glow –Blocking your view of the stars.

Interestingly, taking care of 1) above, takes care of all of these.

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What is meant by Energy Waste?

Any outdoor luminaire that is • not directed to the object (e.g., globe lighting)• on long after necessary (after midnight, is it

needed?), or• too bright for the task at hand.

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Recent Talk

Sandy Springs – recently put in good lighting but did not remove the old lighting

- 30 superfluous 150W lights

- 37.3 tons of CO2

- 565 lbs of SO2

- 339 lbs of NOx

- 1.4 lbs of Mercury

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Current Situation

• General Electric now sells more FCO luminaires for streetlights than non-FCO’s

• Hundreds of local municipalities and counties have adopted some form of Dark Sky ordinances

• Conservation is coming back to life

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Current Situation

• Greenhouse gasses are becoming front page news and HR 2454 passed by House on June 22, 2009, foreshadowing limits on CO2

• Certain Utilities have joined the fight against Light Pollution (e.g., Georgia Power, LIPA)

• New technologies and fixtures becoming available

• AMA has just joined the fight

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Why should AEP get involved?

The constituencies involved:

• Public - Baby Boomers are aging, making Glare a major concern

• Press – skeptical of AEP’s environmental record, construction of new plants, global warming

• Local Governments – starting to pay attention to greenhouse gasses and economics

• Environmental Groups – becoming aware of impact of Light Pollution on trees, humans, mammals, and insects

• Department of Energy – proposed limits on greenhouse gas emissions may be hard to accomplish without a great deal of conservation

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Why should AEP get involved?

The following issues were identified by your stakeholders as being important to them:

• Leadership in the public policy arena

• Climate change

• Environmental performance upstream and downstream

• Leadership on energy efficiency/demand response

“….energy efficiency is an excellent tool that can hold customer bills steady, delay

the need for new generation resources and help us address climate change.” – Michael G. Morris, 2009 Corporate Sustainability Report

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Now is the time for AEP to get involved

Big Opportunity for AEP• Currently taking huge steps to be perceived as a

“green” company, reducing CO2 footprint • Vendor of majority of outdoor luminaires• Currently viewed as an outdoor lighting expert • Currently viewed as a major polluter• Help meet goals of National Action Plan for Energy

Efficiency, as well as any limits set by Congress

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Strategy

• “We must be a Leader internationally to help achieve a global solution.” – Corporate Sustainability Report

• Chance to become a National Leader in the fight against Light Pollution and Wasted Energy

• Make the fight against Light Pollution an Executive priority

• Hire a dedicated person or persons to organize and lead the educational and outreach process

Achieve Efficiency, while talking about glare, sky glow, etc.

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Tactics/Recommendations

• Start addressing Light Pollution issues with– Press – Education for customers

• Become an advocate and educator to customers on conservation at night (e.g., turning off lights from 12 -5 am)

• Become an advocate of appropriate outdoor luminaires (offer only full cutoff luminaires)

• Lobbying with local, state and Federal governments• Outreach to Sierra Club, FLAP, AARP• Begin educational process for cities, counties and

states on street and highway lighting• Clean up own house with AEP locations

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Result if AEP becomes a leader in the fight against Light Pollution

• AEP manages the situation, not the reverse• AEP becomes known as a Leader in the fight

against Light Pollution• AEP realizes CO2 savings toward goal of

National Action Plan and limits on greenhouse gas emissions

• AEP creates evidence of actions taken to reduce demand, when applying for new plants

• Over time, less glare, trespass, and sky glow due to elimination of bad luminaires

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Appendix

"Light Pollution" - The Only Pollution that Costs More to Perpetuate than to Eliminate!

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Examples

• San Diego – changed street lights to Low Density Sodium (LDS) lights, which are most cost efficient lights available – Saves $3M per year

• Des Moines – turned off 39% of its streetlights – no increase in crime• Calgary - changed street lights to LDS lights- Savings of $3M per

year and a reduction of 17 kilotons of carbon-dioxide emissions per year

• France and Holland – starting to use programmable ballasts on street lights to cut energy use by 40%

• A 70-km section of the A16 highway in northern France has been extinguished. This was followed by a significant decrease in the number of accidents.

• Since November 2006, over 40 municipalities in Loir et Cher have been extinguishing luminaires after 11:30 pm.

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Glare on Streets

New technologies can help minimize or eliminate Glare.

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Glare - Good lighting can improve safety! -

Aim the Floodlights Down!

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Light Trespass

The problem of trespass occurs in nearly every community!

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Sky Glow

A majority of kids have not seen the Milky Way!!

Night of Blackout – 60 second exposure Night after Blackout – 30 second exposure

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Environment

The light confuses the tree as to the season.

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Who We Are

• International Dark-Sky Organization – more than 11,000 members worldwide

Dedicated to stopping the adverse effects of LP, raising awareness of the problem of LP and educating the public about LP