Light pollution, eh? You just gotta hate it. Actually, it might be something which causes fewer problems in the future is the work of a team of scientists in Japan and Mexico bears fruit.
The researchers are working on a new sort of street lighting design which could stop so much light being wasted.
If you live in a big city you are probably used to not being able to see the stars and having to screw up your eyes at time due to strong lights. These factors are, in part, due to conventional street lighting, which can also waste a lot of energy by allowing light to “leak” out in different directions rather than being as focused as it should be.
The Best Lights Ever?
The new creation is LED powered and it has been described as the best street lighting ever. Is there a but? Yes, there is. Their theory hasn’t yet been turned in a working light.
The statistics uncovered by the research team suggests that normal street lighting loses about a fifth of its light through the beams going, well, everywhere but where they are meant to go. LEDs are easier to control, so there is far less wastage.
This means that accurate lenses can be used instead of the old fashioned approach of polished aluminium reflectors. This in turn means that wasted light could be reduced to just 2% of the total amount produced, which could provide an energy saving of up to 50% when lighting a stretch of road. A prototype should be available for testing by the end of the year.
