Sjoerd Witteveen
Kleinburg resident Roger Dickinson has been trying to convince municipal governments to help conserve energy by turning off lights at night after seeing a satellite image showing how much light is being wasted each night.
Vaughan
June 23, 2007 01:18 AM
By: David Fleischer
With all the talk of the environment and how wasteful we can be, light is something one rarely hears about.
But when Roger Dickinson saw a photo taken from space showing how much light is shining from the Earth, and then looked at what was going on outside his window, he knew something had to change.
In the past few weeks, the Kleinburg resident has appealed to Vaughan and York Region committees to consider lowering light levels of streetlights and in parks.
“Why do we need to shine all this light into space?” he said.
Mr. Dickinson said streetlights, for example, serve a safety function but don’t need to be left on all night when roads are virtually empty.
“Once rush hour is over, there is no real reason we shouldn’t be able to shut some of those lights off,” he said.
In Sunset Ridge park, he said, pathway lights are left on all night, even when the park is closed in the winter. Mr. Dickinson also said there are many ways to remedy these problems, such as photosensivite lights and smart switches.”
“I suggest that they don’t need to be on all night, even during the summer, and probably aren’t needed at all in the winter,” he said in his deputation.
Retrofitting old fixtures could be costly, but Mr. Dicksinon said it should cost very little to include these measures in new construction.
As well, too much extraneous light can affect our sleep patterns negatively, he added.
Mr. Dickinson asked staff to review its present standards, see where lights can be turned off, investigate ways of reducing their usage and assess the cost of retrofitting.
With urbanization comes light pollution and the inevitable question of how much energy we are wasting.
Light pollution bylaws are few and far between, with Richmond Hill being a very rare exception. Because of the David Dunlap Observatory, town has had a light pollution bylaw on the books since 1995.
It has curbed, but not stopped light pollution. And while the usefulnes of the observatory has still been mitiaged, it is progress nonetheless.
In 1995, the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, through its Light Pollution Abatement Program, awarded the town a certificate of merit for its efforts.
Former Markham Councillor Stan Daurio was a strong proponent of creating a light pollution bylaw for Markham as well, but town officials ultimately concluded a public education campaign would be more effective.
“To enforuce such a thing is labour intensive,” said Markham spokesperson Marjorie Rebane.
The town distributed newsletters to every home advising residents of measures they can take to “take back the night”, but development services now does its best to manage light levels when establishing site plans.
A May 2005 report estimated it would cost the town more than $15 million to retrofit its light fixtures and concluded “setting lighting standards and engineering implementation will improve safety and health concerns and help return dark skies for the enjoyment of the astronomers and the general public”.
Public facilities are not the only problems, of course, and Mr. Dickinson said he intends to speak to local chambers of commerce about parking lots and other sources of unnecessary light.
Vaughan council heard his proposed pole and streetlight maintenance and rehabiliation program May 22 and city staff have been directed to present a report on alterntatives and options.
The report will be forwarded to the city’s environmental task force, which will offer its own advice and produce a concurrent report on alternative energy efficient lighting methodologies.
York Region staff are also taking a similar approach and, with summer break looming, both parties hope to have reports done by the fall.
Long gone are the days when residents in the south part of the region could look up at the night sky and imagine they were in cottage country.
The 2003 blackout was probably the last time the stars were really visible here, but Mr. Dickinson is among those hoping we can bring them out again.