Satellite Map of Virginia Light Pollution

This map depicts a satellite view of Virginia (superimposed with county boundaries) showing the spread of light pollution across our state. Several outdoor lighting ordinances are in place across key urban and dense suburban areas, but your help is needed to broaden this coverage to other areas.

Image adapted from NASA's "Earth's City Lights at Night" on Google Earth.

National Dark Sky Week - 2008

National Dark Sky Week, an initiative pioneered by Virginia resident Jennifer Barlow, will run from April 6-12, 2008. Residents and businesses are encouraged to turn out their unnecessary outdoor lights in order to temporarily reduce light pollution (and save energy). Through the joy of seeing more stars in the night sky, this initiative seeks to increase community awareness of light pollution issues. To find out more, check out National Dark Sky Week

The Logic Behind Shielded Light Sources

In most cases we automatically shield a light source from view so that we may see the foreground clearly. We dim our car headlights for approaching vehicles. We wear hats or sunglasses in the sun. We use lamp shades on desk lamps. In the year 2014, NASA plans to launch a space based observatory called the Terrestrial Planet Finder, which will search for small planets by blocking the light of the parent sun. Why then, do we not automatically shield outdoor security lights?

In The News

www.powhatantoday.com/index.php/news/article/fighting-the-light

Powhatan's New Ordinance

Powhatan's new lighting ordinance, and Virginia's newest, for both commercial and residential lighting, was unanimously voted in favor of by both the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors. Special thanks to Planning Commissioner David Williams, who was willing to take on a new idea, Zoning Administrator Brandon Stidham who worked with the ordinance from start to finish, Supervisor Russell Holland who saved the ordinance from being denied or deferred, Supervisor Robert Cosby who came to the final hearing prepared to act, the Richmond Astronomical Society, and those good citizens who waited for hours to stand in support at the public hearings! For viewing, log onto the county website, http://www.powhatanva.gov/, then follow the links to: county departments, planning and zoning, plans, ordinances and documents, 2008 Zoning ordinance, and scroll down to article 27A.

Loudoun County Lighting History and Present Status

http://www.mediasoft.net/macdowell/HistoryStatus.htm

The writer of this article is concerned with light trespass and glare, especially that caused by the local electric utility company. Here he records his journey in working to improve Loudoun County's comprehensive plan and lighting zoning ordinance.

Waterford, Virginia

www.waterfordva-wca.org/general_articles/05-dark-sky-lighting.htm

Street lights are converted to Dark-Sky friendly lights; local residents cover costs.

Lunar Resonant Streetlighting

Metropolis Magainze just awarded Civil Twilight Design Collective top prize in the 2007 Metropolis Next Generation Design Competition for the Lunar-Resonant Streetlight. This design "...retrofit[s] existing streetlights with dimmable LED bulbs and a highly sensitive photo-sensor cell that could detect and respond to moonlight."

The Collective's reserach indicates:

• streetlights account for 38 percent of the electricity used for lighting in the United States—that’s close to 300 million tons of carbon emissions a year.
• They’re also the top source of light pollution, preventing two-thirds of Americans from seeing stars at night.
• in the 1930s, with the spread of electrification and the consolidation of utilities, streetlights became a convenient way to off-load excess energy from the grid at night, when power demands dropped significantly. This intentionally inefficient system determined the norm for nighttime outdoor lighting levels, a standard that has not been revised since, even though the need for off-loading ended in the 1970s. What we now assume is a safety measure is in fact the forgotten remnant of an obsolete energy practice.

Montgomery County, Maryland Lighting Ordinance Proposed

Our fellow stargazers at National Capital Astronomers have proposed an ordinance for Montgomery County, Maryland (our next-door neighbors in Northern Virginia). Click here to review the proposed ordinance. You can help out by sending a word of support to Councilmember Praisner.

Help needed to track down other Virginia Ordinances!

We could use your help in tracking down other Virginia Ordinances not mentioned on this site. We think that Loudoun County and Blacksburg have some kind of outdoor lighting ordinances passed, but can't seem to find the details (electronic copy of ordinance, date passed, etc.) If you know of these, or other Virginia county ordinances, we would appreciate it if you could send an e-mail with these details to the Virginia IDA chapter administrator...thanks!

Roanoke County passes lighting ordinance

Roanoke County passed a lighting ordinance (see p. 51, Appendix C of Roanoke Valley lighting report). We're having trouble tracking down some details behind this one. If anyone knows the date when this ordinance was adopted, please send a note to the Virginia IDA chapter administrator (thanks!)

Warren County passes lighting ordinance

Warren County passed a lighting ordinance (see p. 48, Appendix C of Roanoke Valley lighting report). We're having trouble tracking down some details behind this one. If anyone knows the date when this ordinance was adopted, please send a note to the Virginia IDA chapter administrator (thanks!)

Hanover County Lighting Ordinance

Hanover County passed a lighting ordinance (see p. 47, Appendix C of Roanoke Valley lighting report). We're having trouble tracking down some details behind this one. If anyone knows the date when this ordinance was adopted, please send a note to the Virginia IDA chapter administrator (thanks!)

Chesterfield County Lighting Ordinance

Chesterfield County passed a lighting ordinance (see p. 31, Appendix C of Roanoke Valley lighting report). We're having trouble tracking down some details behind this one. If anyone knows the date when this ordinance was adopted, please send a note to the Virginia IDA chapter administrator (thanks!)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to Light Pollution

What would Douglas Adams say about the light pollution pervading our world today? Check it out at The Hitchhiker's Guide to Light Pollution in Wired Science.

Loudoun County OKs rural outdoor lighting rules

According to an article in LoudounTimes.com, "the change, which regulates exterior lighting in rural residential, agricultural and forestal areas, was prompted by complaints from some residents who told supervisors during a Jan. 16 public hearing that light pollution had obscured their view of the night sky."