Lightbulbs for a Dark Sky
It’s a dark time for fans of the incandescent light bulb: Retailers are no longer allowed to sell the old-fashioned globes. According to guidelines, “general service lamps”—a.k.a. household light bulbs—must now emit a minimum of 45 lumens per watt. Since incandescent bulbs provide only about a third of that, they’re effectively banned in the US.
Patented by Thomas Edison in the 1880s, the incandescent light bulb provides illumination by warming a tungsten filament until it glows. It’s beautiful, but highly inefficient since most of the energy it produces comes from heat, not light.
Moving to energy-efficient light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs will save consumers nearly $3 billion on their electricity bills, according to the Department of Energy. The changeover is also projected to trim carbon emissions by 222 million metric tons over the next three decades.
But you hate LED’s you say? We know. Early iterations gave off that weird bluish tinge and didn’t work with most dimmers. They also had the tendency to flicker, making it Halloween all year long. But LED technology has come a long way! Now there are a ton of color, shape, tone, and even dimmer options.
This is great when it comes to outdoor lighting. The lightbulbs you use for your outdoor lighting are critical for dark sky protection. Of course, it’s best practice to set lights on motion sensors or turn them off when they are not in use to keep our skies dark.
But for lights that are on at night, LED’s offer the flexibility needed to help mitigate the effects on people, birds, and other wildlife. You’ll want bulbs that have a Kelvin rating of 2200 (amber light) for outdoor fixtures. Why? Not only has blue light exposure been linked to human health issues and the disruption of our circadian rhythm, blue light disrupts the behavior of nocturnal organisms particularly nighttime pollinators. Many insects that are active at night find themselves drawn to lights and spend the night “trapped” in the light rather than feeding, pollinating and other critical behaviors.
Look for bulbs with a low lumen value. Bulbs with a high lumen value can lead to light trespass into neighboring property, unnecessary nighttime brightness, and can even decrease safety due to glare or excessive brightness that disrupts our vision. Also, overly bright lights can also increase the potential for migrating birds to get thrown off course since they are drawn to light and most migrate during the night.
PSEG LI is even offering rebates on certain bulbs! Because ENERGY STAR certified bulbs use 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs and last 10 to 25 times longer, PSEG LI is encouraging us to make the switch by offering instant rebate savings. Visit https://www.psegliny.com/saveenergyandmoney/energystarrebates to learn more!
