Well lit again? – by Dave Whalley

The other day ODN showed a picture of the new lighting installed on Fairview Rd, Those new street lamps do a better job of lighting our streets with the light being directed to the road surface and not up into the sky as is the case with the old “fish bowl” lights that are more common around town, but the lights in the pictures shown here are even better and utilise LED technology to light the road. These lights are located onAirport Stby the entrance to the helicopter company at the airport, I would like to see more of these installed around here.

These new fixture use less energy, do a better job and eventually save tax dollars as opposed to the more inefficient lighting of most ofOliver streetlighting. Drive past these lights after dark and see how the road is illuminated compared to the “fish bowl” style lighting. Perhaps more important to me being an astronomer, with the better lighting, less stray light is washing out the sky, it is this light pollution that prevents us seeing the starry sky, step outside on a clear night and see if you can see the milky way, if not, it may be due to bad lighting in your neighbourhood.