BAS Observer July 2017

6 BAS OBSERVER By now it would be hard for any BAS member to not have noticed that we have some concerns regarding the suitability of some LED street lights currently being trialled for deployment across Brisbane by Brisbane City Council and Energex. BAS recommends that LED street lighting should operate at the correlated colour temperature of 3000K, which is a warm white light with a modest component of blue wavelengths; however, BCC/Energex are trialling some lights rated as high as 5700K. What they hope to achieve from this is a mystery; 5700K is a piercing-cold, bluish- white light that is extremely glary. While BCC/Energex have so far declined to tell us which of their 17 trial streets have 5700K lights, our inspection of Malbon Street, Eight Mile Plains, suggests this could be one of them. Drivers and pedestrians are forced to squint when trying to navigate this street at night. The glare is so bad that it makes shaded areas appear even darker due to squinting. We suspect these lights may actually make it more hazardous for road users than would be the case using 3000K lights. Additionally, almost all trial LED lights exhibit light-trespass problems whereby light extends over property boundaries and, in some cases, onto and into people’s homes. Some lights on Galleon Street, Jamboree Heights, exhibit this problem; however, just about every trial street has the problem of light trespass and intense glare from poorly shielded lights. We also found that luminaires are often installed with a 5° upcast, which makes a mockery of any claim of full- cutoff light control for trial luminaires. Tilting the light upwards above the horizontal just wastes light into space, exacerbates light-trespass problems and creates intense glare for road users and residents. So BAS will continue to lobby BCC/Energex. So far it has been the mouse against the lion, but many lions have been tamed in the past. There will be more on this story in future editions of the BAS Observer . Peter Allison Some Really Dreadful Street Lights Being Trialled in Brisbane Malbon Street, Eight Mile Plains Galleon Street, Jamboree Heights