A few months ago, I had the opportunity to visit Stanford University (which I will be attending in the fall) and observe the outdoor lights there. Thanks to its sustainability initiatives, Stanford has transitioned to 100% renewable energy (read here!) and created a new school oriented towards fighting the climate crisis (Doerr School of Sustainability).
🌲 Statistics regarding Stanford's sustainability are included below from the Sustainable Stanford Portal (https://sustainable.stanford.edu/):
💡 Four photos of Stanford's outdoor lighting are provided below:
âš¡ Stanford also provides a list of its pole lights here: https://lbre.stanford.edu/architect/documents/standard-campus-site-furnishings-stanford-pole-light-globe
💥 Let's go through the positives and negatives of Stanford's outdoor lighting, which I observed during my visit.
Positives:
Stanford's outdoor lighting is controlled by timers or sensors during the night.
Most lights use warmer colors, especially in residential areas. A few are still bright, white lamps.
By reducing energy intensity by 36%, Stanford has reduced the light levels of its fixtures.
Negatives:
None of Stanford's pole lights provide shielding, which then spills excessive light into the night sky and reduce visibility of stars.
Lights are also placed too close to each other so that the environment is overlit and appears as bright as daytime, which could affect the circadian rhythms of humans and wildlife.
Some of these fixtures have not been replaced for decades, with the oldest fixtures being installed in 2005 and 2009. However, central campus regions have newer lights from 2019.
🔥 According to the International Dark Sky Association, there are 5 principles for responsible outdoor lighting: useful, targeted, low light levels, controlled, and color. (Read more here!)
Stanford has room for improvement when incorporating useful and targeted lighting. Through new features such as shielding or redesigning the pole lights, combatting light pollution can become a new target for an increasingly sustainable campus.
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