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Old 02-28-2018, 12:00 AM
 
131 posts, read 130,952 times
Reputation: 93

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I have recently come across this petition that I signed regarding the choice for better, healthier choices in LED streetlights that cause less dangerous and distracting glare that the City of Houston is considering or already in the process of implementing. https://www.change.org/p/houston-s-h...-no_src-no_msg
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Old 02-28-2018, 09:58 AM
 
2,966 posts, read 1,919,136 times
Reputation: 4672
Very interesting. I must be in the minority then because I actually like the new streetlights. My area wasn't well lit before they put them in and they don't bother me at night, but I could see how some might find them too bright. I didn't really realize this was an issue before now, good find.
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Old 02-28-2018, 10:32 AM
 
3 posts, read 3,290 times
Reputation: 21
Thanks so much for posting this petition. Some of us in the Meyerland area started it. It was the idea of a Meyerland area realtor. We have been appearing before City Council and sending information for three years now and do have supporters on Council. Councilman-at-Large Jack Christie has been a staunch advocate of softer warmer street lights from the beginning. Councilman-at-Large David Robinson is an architect and also says we have the science behind us. The problem is that we have been comparing two bad forms of lighting. The old warmer lighting looks muddier partly because of color but also because we see the bulbs. The newer lighting is too white and bright and while things look clear directly underneath they prevent us from seeing other areas as well as shielded less high glare lighting would. To see why so many other cities are listening and moving to warmer LED street lights, take a look at this video of Tucson's warmer LED lighting which saves even more energy by reducing glare. This is what we had hoped for Houston. Chris Monrad, the lighting engineer hired by Tucson has been advising our group for the last three years or so and pointed out that Houston uses an antiquated calculation method that results in high glare installations. Please spread the petition and urge people to write their Council representative. You can find them here: City Council. T

The video of Tucson's lighting is here. Notice that for both streets and businesses, there is very little glare and the lighting is soft and even: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJL-WPwjMQM

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Last edited by elnina; 03-03-2018 at 04:24 AM..
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Old 02-28-2018, 11:21 AM
 
16 posts, read 25,562 times
Reputation: 52
Are these the ones sprinkled around town that you cant see the light lit until your halfway through the intersection? Awful. What idiot ok'ed these?
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Old 02-28-2018, 11:57 AM
 
3 posts, read 3,290 times
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Yes, the light is more spread out on the street than what your eye can see due to glare. That is the problem. They have measured the amount of light on the street but have not taken into account that the glare from the bright white LEDs prevents you from seeing a lot of that light in the first place. The result is bright under the light and what looks like darkness everywhere else. If you reduce glare through warmer color, shielding and lower wattage (I know that sounds counterintuitive), your eye sees all the light produced instead of only part of it. Las Vegas' City Council also complained after all their white LEDs were put in that it was much darker than they thought it would be. I showed that article to our City Council in July of 2015 and thought they would not make the same mistake as they said they would look into it. Try holding up your hand to block the light of the LEDs of a nearby street light and see how much better you can see around the light. This is true of home lighting too.

In January of 2016, Mayor Turner ordered that the lighting be reviewed. That is when the strong push back from CenterPoint Energy and Public Works began, starting with their erroneously reporting that it would cost more because wattage would have to go up. In fact, both Davis, CA and Los Angeles reduced their wattage about 30% when they used warmer white lower glare LED street lighting instead of the 4000K (neutral white) LED street lights like ours they started with. Houston is now an outlier in not making a change. Phoenix, Chicago, Montreal, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Dallas, College Station, Austin, Denver, Fort Collins and many others are now using lower glare LED street lighting. Washington DC was supposed to vote on moving to warmer LED lighting yesterday. The Tucson video shows why:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJL-WPwjMQM
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Old 03-02-2018, 04:50 AM
 
Location: Tricity, PL
61,028 posts, read 85,838,736 times
Reputation: 130673
Street lights are bad, but most of them are shielded and pointing down. There is much worse problem with the super bright and obnoxious digital LED billboards. Those should be better regulated.

Last edited by elnina; 03-02-2018 at 05:27 AM..
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Old 03-02-2018, 11:43 PM
 
3 posts, read 3,290 times
Reputation: 21
Really all light could be designed to be lower glare whether it is street lights, billboards, business or home lighting.

You just need three ingredients: shield the light enough so that the light source is not in line of sight when looking straight ahead.

Use the warmer side of the spectrum.

Use less intensity which makes the entire area easier to see including less well lit areas.

For signs, some cities such as Dripping Springs, TX are requesting that backgrounds be black instead of white. This greatly reduces glare.
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Old 03-20-2018, 03:18 PM
 
256 posts, read 151,724 times
Reputation: 323
Sorry, couldn't disagree more strongly - I walk through Montrose alone at night on a regular basis, and the newer lights make the streets feel much safer than beforehand.
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Old 03-28-2018, 12:01 PM
 
1,606 posts, read 2,943,025 times
Reputation: 1710
Are you enjoying talking to yourself in this thread?
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