The town of Gladsaxe is using red-spectrum LEDs to illuminate streets where bat species congregate.
A Danish town is changing some of its streetlights to red as part of an effort to protect local bat species.
As Arezki Amiri explains in Daily Galaxy, “The shift from white to red lighting followed findings that short-wavelength light can significantly alter bat activity, while red-spectrum light is less likely to interfere with their echolocation and feeding patterns.”
The project is designed to balance the need for safety and visibility with ecological sensitivity. “Warm white light remains in areas with significant pedestrian or vehicular traffic. Red light is used only where disruption to wildlife is likely.”
Red-spectrum LED lighting can also reduce energy use and costs. “Compared to legacy sodium lamps or halogen systems, LEDs require less power, last longer and support smart lighting controls, including dimming and motion sensing.”
FULL STORY: Denmark Is Switching to Red Streetlights, and It Could Revolutionize Urban Lighting Around the World
Seeing the Street
A San Francisco-based design studio describes the thought process behind an effort to push outdoor lighting design beyond the lowest common denominator allowed by bureaucracy and status quo thinking.
D.C. Residents Fight Light Pollution
New LED lighting has raised concerns about the health and environmental impacts of excessive or harsh lighting.
How the Lights in Our Cities Became Too Bright
“Why are lighting designers and experts nearly unified in their belief that outdoor lighting in past years has been excessive?”
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association