Light pollution means excessive
light in your surrounding environment. It may be because of our frenzy of over illuminating
your environment or advertisers’ enthusiasm to make their products’ signboards
as much glaring as possible. In any of the ways excessive light is not only harmful
for our eyesight but also it equally creates global warming and also a source
of energy wastage. Usually we don’t take light pollution seriously and take it
as source of joy when we see lot of lights are being illuminated in a party and
our eyes are getting affected by their glaring effects. Who has ever felt the
harmful effects of flood lights in soccer ground that totally disturb the ideal
balance of lights in the environment and cause global warming as well?
Types of light pollution
There are five main types of
light pollution which we observe around us but never take them seriously.
Light trespass
Did we ever notice lights from
the neighborhood trespassing in our bed room through window? What we do as a
precautionary measures. We just close the window to avoid it. In this way we
close a source of fresh air and let the suffocation increase in our bed room or
living room. It may also boost indoor pollution if there is any type of
emissions in our home either from kitchen or from heater. People living in densely
populated area easily feel the pains of light trespass when every moving
vehicle throw light over the entrance of their home or on any window that opens
to the roadside.
Over illumination
In frenzy of joy and pleasure we enlighten
the buildings with more than the required amount of lights. We arrange special
lights on religious and national days. We just want to let others know how
proud we are on any occasion of national or religious significance. We rarely
know that religion enlightens our hearts and we can reflect that light through
our good deeds. Those who don’t illuminate their homes have to suffer from
excessive lights from over-illuminated buildings around them.
Glaring
On a highway if a vehicle has
more than two head lights with sharp rays what we feel. We fail to see around
us for a while that is called glaring which directly affect our vision. Most of
the moving lights have glaring effects. Glaring usually occurs when the quality
of bulb is not up to the mark and totally disturbs the light emissions and
directly affects the eyesight of the people around it.
Light clutter
This is another serious type of
light pollution. It is caused by excessive grouping of lights where we fail to
see our target and it may cause accidents if it happens on busy roads. Its effects
are more than just weakening of eyesight and may bring on tragic accidents.
Sky glow
If huge lights change the color
of the sky and totally disturb the environment it is called sky glow. This we
usually watch in commercial hubs in the night where huge buildings emit high
rays of lights and totally change the color of the sky.
What are the effects of light pollution?
Most important effects of light
pollution are following.
Global warming
It causes global warming not only
by creating heat during burning but also it takes excessive energy consumption which
means increased burning of fossil fuel that is also a main reason of climate change.
Energy wastage
The second effect of light
pollution is energy wastage because when we over illuminate so many lights and
more than the required amount we consume more energy and put a load on its
demand. Eventually a gap is created between demand and supply and those who use
energy in a balance way have to suffer because of frequent power outages on the
back of energy shortfall.
Health effects
Apart from weakening our eyesight
the light pollution also affects our nerves and causes insomnia. Moreover increased
headache incidences, worker fatigue, medically defined stress, decrease in
sexual function and increase in anxiety are also main health effects of light pollution.
Effects on ecosystem
Excessive lights equally harm our
ecosystem and affect the flora and fauna, animals, plants and other living
beings. The heat created by it totally disturbs the natural environment and
bring on several disruptions in our ecosystem.
How to control light pollution?
Reduction
The best way to control light
pollution is reduced consumption of energy. Before illuminating buildings on
festive occasions or using high power bulbs for any type of purpose we first
must make a ceiling of energy consumption to put a red line and declare we have
to make all arrangements within that amount of energy.
High quality fixtures
We must use fixtures for bulbs
and other illuminating items of high quality so that light does not distract
from its original object and does not disturbs others by trespassing into the
others properties.
Use of advance lighting sources
After the introduction of LEDs
now there is no need to used old type of high voltage bulbs and we should try
to use every lightening object of LED category. In this way we can get the
required amount of light by consuming less energy and creating less heat as
well.
Most important
By controlling light pollution
either through reduced lighting or through using LED sources of lights we
consume less energy and reduce our energy bill. In this way we cut our energy
bill and save a sizeable amount of money.
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