Light Up Your Life The Smart Way

Gazing out the cockpit window when your plane leaves a New York City Airport you witness Innumerable rows of dotted light, overflowing into an electronic blanket of illumination, stretching far beyond your field of vision.

Why do you see this? Why are all these lights being used to light up the sky?

These strings of artificial light; synonymous with modern life are being used, in part, to light up a dark sky. This misuse of illumination means Billions of dissipated dollars and a long term environmental impact. The International Dark-Sky Association, a not for profit industry advocacy group, estimates that 30% of all US outdoor lighting is wasted by being directed skyward. Conservatively estimated at $1.5 Billion in wasted electricity yearly, this 30% requires the needless burning of 6,000,000 tons of coal every year. Wasted or poor indoor lighting accounts for additional monetary and energy loses. Improper lighting can also have a negative psychosocial impact being attributed to everything from depression to insomnia to eye strain.

In a world obsessed with efficiency and cost, improper lighting is a growing concern. Groups of involved professionals are organizing around the world to address and educate the public about the problems of improper lighting use, groups like the Illuminating Engineers Society of North America (IESNA). The IESNA is a consortium of Lighting Designers, Engineers, Architects and Lighting Manufacturers. I attended a lecture series sponsored on their behalf at the NYU school of architecture, entitled: The Quality of the Visual Environment Lecture Series: It Ain't Just Foot-candles Any More! Given by tefan Graf,- a professional lighting designer from the Michigan based lighting design firm, Illuminart.

The animated, yet straight laced speaker on the podium opened up with a jaunty tune he penned himself about lighting quality, then jumped right into the issue. The purpose of the informational session was broken down into 4 main points: To increase the awareness of the value added of the new IESNA lighting quality Design guide, to identify the long term fiscal benefits of lighting quality to protect the owners of building projects and users and to create an awareness of loss prevention in specifying and project management lighting systems designs.

According to Mr. Graf the "role of the lighting designer is to match and rank the needs of the people using the space with the economic objectives, and then translate the results into a workable design and functional installation". In or outside of a structure, the Human, Economic, Environmental, and Architectural elements are all profoundly influenced by their lighting. Human elements served by lighting include task performance, Visual comfort, Social communication and overall aesthetic judgment. Architectural elements include the form of the building, style, the composition of materials and influence building codes and standards. Economic and Environmental elements include installations, operation and energy costs and its impact on the environment.

There is no organized, easily identifiable label of lighting designer. The role of consultant is limited solely to consultations. The IESNA intends on making the career a widely known and accepted mergence of architecture and interior design. The lighting designer would keep the problem of light trespass (unwanted light entering from extraneous source) and light glare, to a minimum.

Mr. Graf displayed several examples of lighting gone bad. Everything from bad museum lights to parking lot illumination to the inside of Macy's was aesthetically upsetting and carried a hidden, unforeseen cost. For example, in retail stores lighting can make a "mini environment" for a given display, highlighting a carousel of impulse purchase merchandise.

In parking lots, access roads, and at entrances and exits effective lighting can be used to highlight hazards. This increased safety translates into time saved on emergency response, fines, workers compensation and lowered insurance rates.

Light also sets the mood. Choosing lamps that will produce the desired mood and color effects, you are much more likely to obtain the desired ambience. Think about it, the school doesn't put soft blue lights in their class rooms; they want to keep you awake.

Pollution prevention is the keystone to a lighting designer's task. Energy -efficient lighting offers the potential for saving electricity which, in turn, prevents air pollution caused by electricity generation. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates, electric use for lighting would be cut by 50 percent, 232 tons (4% of the nations total) sulfur dioxide emissions by 1.7 million tons (7 percent of national total) and nitrous oxide emissions by 900,000 tons (4 percent of national total).

The lecture series concluded with a call to action by designers, architects, civic leaders and the general public. "Its not in my interest" short term profits over long term benefits must be ditched in this topic, lighting is not a market strategy, its for everyone.

For more information go to www.illuminart.net