LED STREET LIGHTING AND LIGHT POLLUTION - A CASE STUDY IN SOUTH EAST AUSTRALIA

摘要

Benefits of LED street lighting have encouraged programs to reduce greenhouse emissions, lighting costs and skyglow. No standardized methods for quantitative assessment of skyglow and light pollution exist. The result of a time series analysis of data from the Suomi/VIIRS satellite from South-East Australia where LED street lights replaced mercury vapour and compact fluorescent lighting is presented here. The total luminous flux of the prior lighting inventory is compared to the radiance images from Suomi Day/Night Band (DNB) and to the expected results from sky-glow modeling software Illumina. Discussion focuses on the Suomi/DNB sensor as a detector and estimator of light pollution. A simplified model of light in the atmosphere suggests short wavelength spectral component of the LED luminaires remains in the lower atmosphere with a greater component of blue spectrum than the original lighting inventory is produced in the wavelengths specified by the AMA as blue light hazard.