New Bulbs To Be Installed At Peck Farm Park To Reduce Light Pollution

Press release from Geneva Park District:

GENEVA, IL — The Geneva Park District Board recently passed a resolution to promote sustainable outdoor lighting practices, the purpose of which is to result in energy and cost savings, as well as a reduction in light pollution and minimization of wildlife disruption.

Titled “A Resolution to Promote Sustainable Outdoor Lighting Practices,” resolution #2023-06 states: “The need for outdoor light at night can be appropriately met by considering the purpose of the light, targeting it appropriately to that purpose, using the correct illumination level, limiting the duration of its use to legitimate need, and choosing lights that emit lower amounts of harmful light into the nighttime environment.”

Applying these principles of properly designed lighting at night have long been important to the park district, and these considerations will only continue, says Superintendent of Parks Carl Gorra.

“With the advent of LEDs, light got cheaper, but the early ones only gave you that bright light. That’s starting to change, and you can now get LEDs with fewer degrees of Kelvin, which have a softer glow to them and are less stressful on the eyes,” he says.

Once such example is at the parking lot of Peck Farm Park Athletic Fields, where last fall the park district installed 4,000-Kelvin LED bulbs in place of 6,000 Kelvin-bulbs. “The Kelvin rating describes color temperature of the light to your eyes; the lower the Kelvin rating, the better for people and the environment,” Gorra says.

In the near future, the park district plans to install LED bulbs at Peck Farm Park ballfield that also reduce light pollution. “The bulbs have the same brightness, and you’re not sacrificing visibility for the players, but they appear softer and the spillover is less. They’ll be better at focusing the light on the field and not off the field,” he says, adding that the ballfield lights are only on when they are in use.

Additional methods for reducing light pollution across park district properties, according to Gorra, include shrouding bulbs, and the use of photocell sensors that minimize artificial light.

This press release was produced by the Geneva Park District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.