Protection of Dark-Sky Areas in the United States Through Development and Implementation of Warm-Light LED Fixtures

Abstract

The light-emitting-diode (LED) revolution has drastically decreased the quality of the United States’ night sky. LEDs are brighter than the sodium doublet lighting fixtures they are replacing, causing an increase in light pollution. Emerging technology promises to replace high-color-temperature LED lighting with lower-color-temperature lighting that reduces light pollution. High-color-temperature, or “cool-lighting” causes unnecessary amounts of light pollution that decreases humanity's connection with the cosmos through stargazing. Policy implementations can increase public awareness of how LEDs affect light pollution through research grants and tax incentive structures. The federal government can directly decrease the United States’ luminous footprint by funding research on warm-light LED development , regulating LED lighting on federal projects to only use low-color-temperature LED fixtures and offering incentives to communities to reduce their light pollution through the tax code.