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Night skies worth protecting, board told
BY CHARLES GARRATT • STAFF WRITER
 | | This dramatic NASA composite photo of the earth at night as seen from space caught the attention of everyone attending the Monday night presentation on preserving dark skies at a joint session of the Bath County Planning Commission and board of supervisors. (Photo courtesy NASA Visible Earth, visibleearth.nasa.gov) |
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WARM SPRINGS - On a recent crisp, clear, autumn night, two young women from Arlington lay on the hard benches at the Ingalls Overlook on Route 39 and stared into the night sky.
The two women had come to Bath County to see the fall colors during the day but also specifically to enjoy a sight denied them in the city - the Milky Way, and thousands of stars.
There was a bonus that night. Even though no regular meteor shower was due, every couple of minutes a shooting star zipped across the moonless panorama.
Residents of Bath County often take for granted the clear view of celestial objects, but that could change if the county doesn't have an ordinance to guide outdoor lighting, John and Genevieve Goss told the Bath planning commission and board of supervisors Monday.
John Goss, an amateur astronomer, and his wife, are members of the International Dark Sky Association, which seeks to protect the night sky from what it calls "light pollution."
Goss said light pollution impacts everybody. He likened the 30 percent of outdoor lighting that escapes into the sky to faucets left running to waste clean water. "Would we tolerate wasting water?" he asked, especially during a drought. "Maybe light pollution is something similar."
Using a standard 175-watt mercury vapor light in a standard dusk-to-dawn (DD) fixture as an example, Goss said the 10 million DD lights in the U.S. waste about $200 million worth of electricity every year. For the average homeowner with one DD light, the wasted light lost into the sky amounts to about $23 per year, or just a little less than the total cost of the fixture, according to Goss.
Goss attracted attention from three dozen people in the audience before his presentation began with a large poster showing what the entire globe looks like from space at night. The image, created by NASA, was originally developed as a way to map areas of civilization. The bright lights of cities and metropolitan corridors light up coast lines around the globe and practically cover the northeastern U.S.
During his presentation, Goss zoomed in on the map image finally showing only the area north of Roanoke up to Highland County. Bright spots for Clifton Forge and Covington were easy to pick out, as was a faint mist of light around Hot Springs. But for the most part, the image showed what people who live in Bath County know- the night sky is dark.
Not so in cities even as small as Covington. Goss said rural areas like the area of Botetourt County, where he lives, can become light polluted by business, security and architectural lighting.
"It takes guts to take photos of banks at night," Goss joked as he showed pictures he had taken of commercial lighting, both good and bad. He illustrated more lighting is not necessary better.
Outdoor fixtures without reflectors cast 30 percent of the light into the sky where it is wasted, said Goss. In addition they often create harsh shadows, which reduce security instead of increasing it.
The DD light, Goss said, is supposed to be "a weapon in the fight against crime." Goss said while the homeowner knows the locations of the shrubs and garbage can and dog chain, a criminal probably would not. In that case, the criminal planning a break in might think it "nice to have a light to see what I am doing."
The goal of the Dark Skies organization and people like Goss is not to eliminate lights, he said. What they seek to do is "provide light at the right time and right level." When he suggested motion activated lights, the audience was quick to provide stories of deer and other animals triggering the lights all through the night.
In that case Goss said, a timer might be appropriate. The question still being, why do we need these lights on all night?
Goss also spoke about what he called "light trespass." No one thinks about where the extra light from their own outdoor fixtures falls, said Goss. But you sure notice it if your neighbor's light shines in your bedroom window at 3 a.m.
Planning commission chairman Mike Grist told Goss, "I really enjoyed your presentation." Grist said he has flown over the country at night and noticed he can see DD lights for miles and miles. He asked Goss if older style DD fixtures can be retro-fitted with shields to prevent the loss of excess light into the sky.
"In general, yes, you can retrofit," replied Goss. Hubble lighting of Christiansburg makes a "Sky Cap" that cost between $40 and $50.
Realtor and Warm Springs resident Ryan Hodges said the county has an ordinance to deal with nuisance dogs and nuisance noise and asked if the county has anything to deal with nuisance light.
Grist said the new comprehensive plan mentions maintaining dark skies as a goal and the planning commission is likely to at least encourage dark sky compliant lighting if not require it.
Board of supervisors' chairman Cliff Gilchrest asked Goss if using compact fluorescents and shielded lights would reduce a person's electric bill.
Goss said, "The answer is clear. The homeowner would save."
He encouraged Bath County to consider adopting a lighting ordinance. He said Botetourt County adopted an ordinance in 2002, Roanoke City in 2006, Augusta County in 2005 and the Bedford planners have one in front of them now.
One of the biggest potential impacts on the night sky in Bath County is the Homestead Preserve development. With miles of new roads cut through fields and forest and potentially hundreds of new structures, light pollution could impact the Warm Springs/Hot Springs corridor.
Homestead Preserve town architect Joe Barnes said Wednesday the philosophy of the development is "respect and concern for the quality of the environment and the quality of life."
"It is so important when living in a place of such natural beauty to be respectful," Barnes said. Lying on the ground and looking up at the night sky in Bath is like "looking at a Christmas tree lit up," he said. "I can even see the Milky Way," he added.
While the Preserve does not have specific requirements specifying dark sky compliant lighting, Barnes said, it does encourage incorporating dark sky principles into the design for homes.
"One of the reasons people are so intrigued by this area is the quality of the night sky," Barnes said. Neither new homeowners nor the Preserve want to do anything to damage one of the very things that make the development attractive, he said.
Packets of literature were available to the officials and citizens. Among the many pages of information provided was a list of Web sites, a reprint from "The New Yorker" about "making war on light pollution" and a four-page sheet on lighting myths.
More information may be obtained at www.darksky.org.
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