Citizens for Responsible Lighting (CRL)

Welcome...
The Citizens for Responsible Lighting (CRL) is a nonprofit member based organization formed for the advancement of public awareness leading to light pollution and obtrusive outdoor lighting reform. Be sure to check our What's New section frequently to learn about the latest revisions to the CRL Web site. We have also added a Site Map under the Links section to allow more rapid access to pages of interest.

Currently the CRL has member representatives in four nations and over half of thel states in the US who are making a difference in how their communities light the night. We need your assistance! Please join the CRL to help us spread the word and raise public awareness about the effective solutions available to prevent obtrusive outdoor lighting.

"There are two primary choices in life: To accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them" - Dr. Denis Waitley

Good lighting is not obtrusive and improves vision and keeps the light within the property boundaries. These fixtures are full cutoff with flat glass lenses. This lighting should be turned off because the business is closed and no employees are present to benefit. Photo taken at 12:30 AM.

We hope you will consider joining the CRL as a participating member to help us build the momentum needed reach our goal of preserving the quality and serenity of the night without compromising public safety or security in any way whatsoever. The members of the CRL collectively form a mutual support system by sharing knowledge that helps to enable others strive for unity within their communities where the application of outdoor lighting is concerned.

The Definition of Unity:
A condition of harmony, accord, oneness, a combination of parts that constitutes a whole, or promotes an undivided total effect, an entity that is a complex whole. The quality of character of a whole made up of intimately associated elements or individuals. This is one admirable quality that the Citizens for Responsible Lighting strives for in our membership. Everyone's efforts and achievements are important to help us meet our goal.

Obtrusive outdoor lighting often shines glare that greatly reduces your safety and quality of life. With good design practice we can have all the outdoor illumination needed to provide adequate safety and security without causing severe negative consequences like light pollution, light trespass, skyglow, and harmful vision robbing glare in the process...

So many admirable benefits are offered by properly aimed and well shielded outdoor lighting that it is pointless for anyone to argue against them. Good lighting is easy to recognize because no harsh glare shines in your eyes and the light is sent only to the task area without spilling beyond the property where the fixtures are installed. A few key benefits are:

Better visibility is offered throughout the entire illuminated area and beyond the property lines.
Pedestrians' safety is not encumbered by drivers who cannot see beyond glare.
Energy savings are afforded by the ability to reduce fixture wattage with no loss in visual performance.
Extreme improvements in the nighttime appearance of the property raise property values in the community.
Significant reduction of light trespass shining beyond the property lines is achieved.
The area is not overlit, thus indicating an energy efficient design has been employed.

Shielded lighting, similar to the full cutoff fixtures shown in the photo above, offer many outstanding benefits for the owner and the entire community as a whole. Notice how the mist in the air clearly shows the distinct cutoff angles of the illumination and the distribution characteristics offered by this type of lighting. The light goes only to the task area where it is needed and does not shine glare into your eyes when these fixtures are installed. Careful pole placement ensures the light does not spill beyond the property where the fixtures are installed. Pole heights in this case are 33' above ground level. The lighting does not spill beyond the property and the area is not overly bright, which indicates an efficient application has occurred on this carefully designed lighting system.

A well administered lighting system provides property owners and surrounding neighbors with many benefits. It helps to maximize energy conservation while reducing long-term operating costs for the owner. Well designed glare-free lighting may also help to reduce liability risks because people on your property can see potential hazards more clearly. Light cannot prevent crime, but good lighting practices can help improve nighttime safety and security for your home or business. A good lighting system never applies more than the minimum amount of light necessary for the various tasks at hand. This sustainable practice greatly benefits the community as a whole by enhancing the nighttime appearance of the area and also improving safety for drivers and pedestrians near your property.

Obtrusive outdoor lighting never provides any benefits for anyone. Glare always reduces visual performance and works against basic principles of sustainable development and good community management. Improved efficiency of modern outdoor lighting equipment vastly increases potential negative impacts of harmful glare, light pollution, and light trespass.

Because of the negative effects on public safety and quality of life, many municipalities have realized they have a moral responsibility to assure obtrusive lighting practices do not continue to perpetuate in their areas. Communities adopt comprehensive outdoor lighting codes as a management tool that provides an effective means to keep this problem in check while assuring everyone is on equal ground. Developing sound outdoor lighting codes is one aspect of effective municipal management where the collective experience and extensive research of the CRL and its membership may be able to help.

A well written outdoor lighting code defines the recommended practice the community requires all designers, architects, engineers, and lighting installers to follow. This is a public safety concern that ensures the community will have a warm and inviting nighttime appearance without compromising anyone's safety or security in the process. Vast savings in energy are achieved throughout a community when effective outdoor lighting guidelines are required. This improves everyone's quality of life and can also improve property values.

Where lighting practices are concerned, most people do not realize the negative impacts they can impose upon others. We all have the right to illuminate our properties to ensure our safety, but obtrusive outdoor lighting practices only demonstrate an extreme lack of consideration for all neighboring property owners. The CRL strives to show others how to light their property with great care and consideration. Applying the techniques can help to reduce operating costs while improving safety and security.

Glare shining into the driver's field of view can often veil the visibility of pedestrians and cyclists in and along the side of the road. It also adds visual clutter that can make traffic signals very difficult to see. Note how the pedestrians in the adjacent image are invisible to the driver thanks to glare! When the glare is managed by proper fixture aiming and shielding the pedestrians are distinctly visible to the driver.

The effects of glare on human vision depend on the difference in contrast between the light source and the surrounding illuminated environment, because the eye always adapts to the brightest area in the field of view. The objective of a good lighting system is to always assure this brightest area is not the source of light itself. Only good fixture shielding in conjunction with careful placement and proper aiming can achieve this greater margin of safety.

Glare shining across property lines is commonly known as light trespass. This unwelcome intrusion can prevent neighbors from enjoying their property outdoors after dark. The negative impact of light trespass can also rob nearby residents of a sound night's sleep when it shines through windows, thus needlessly increasing stress levels and may even effect their health. Bad lighting practices can make rapid enemies of neighbors who under other circumstances might become good friends. Medical research has proven everyone's body needs a dark environment to sleep. If that sleeping environment is interrupted by unnatural light the body terminates its secretion of melatonin. Melatonin is a vital hormone that all mammals produce that helps to rid the body of cancer causing `free radicals' which can cause extensive cellular damage.

Many design professionals have realized the benefits of developing well executed glare free lighting designs, but all too often the careful practice of prudent outdoor lighting is not the norm we see in most communities. Obtrusive lighting gets installed nearly everywhere due to the lack of awareness and lack of comprehensive regulatory controls in the community. Well written and enforceable zoning regulations and community plans with good outdoor lighting codes allow only glare free lighting to be installed throughout the area under Jurisdiction. Outdoor lighting regulations allow legal means for the community to preserve its preference for good lighting installations that enhance areas rather than diminishing them with a garish prison-like appearance after dark.

The Citizens for Responsible Lighting was founded in 2002 to help raise awareness of the general public, luminaire manufacturers, government officials, design professionals, business owners, town planners, and facilities managers. The CRL strives to educate and enable others by raising awareness of the many positive benefits offered by well administered outdoor lighting through prudent design practices and practical applications.

The bright source of illumination is always discrete and out of plain view with well administered outdoor lighting. Just like the lampshades in our home that shield harsh glare from our eyes, outdoor lighting systems require good shielding as well.
Visual acuity always improves when the illuminated area is the brightest thing in the field of view. The eye always adapts to the brightest object in the field of view. When the brightest object is the light fixture itself this causes everything else to appear darker than it truly is.
The illumination does not shine beyond the property where the fixture is installed. When light spills beyond the property it encroaches on others and that is inconsiderate. Good shielding and aiming can prevent this problem while often allowing the use of lower wattage fixtures.
The illumination is distributed in a careful manner that assures no direct light is spilled above the horizontal plane where the fixtures are installed. This practice enabled by the application of full cutoff and/or fully shielded outdoor lighting helps to reduce visible glare, light trespass, and skyglow that erases our view of the stars overhead. It helps our ability to see also.
Only as much light as minimally needed for the tasks at hand is ever applied. Areas are not overlit. More light than minimally needed to see does not offer any greater margin of safety or security, nor does it enhance the appearance of any illuminated area. This careless practice only wastes precious energy needlessly.

We have known for eons that glare never benefits anyone's ability to see. In spite of this ancient knowledge, the first applications of outdoor lighting created by Thomas A. Edison were 50 watt incandescent lamps installed into existing gas lanterns that had no shielding, and therefore, the lamps were exposed to the direct view of all observers. In the process, this practice blasted light all over the place sending it well beyond the areas that needed illumination. Everyone was incredibly excited by this new invention, to the point where nobody realized the harm that was being done to their vision in the process. Newspaper accounts of the day claimed ``the Edison lamps were as bright as day." Indeed they must have seemed this way when comparing the new lighting technology to the gas lighting that previously existed, but could people see any better because of it? Due to the glare, the answer is probably not, but the novelty of an extremely bright manmade solution to the darkness clouded people's thought processes. In many cases this same ethic of poorly administered lighting practices remain true today, but does it provide any tangible benefits?

Glare hampers our ability to see properly whether we are indoors or outdoors. In the indoor environment light reflects off walls and ceilings to help balance the lighting uniformity. Indirect lighting is very easy on the eyes and provides excellent uniformity because the diffuse source spreads light out over a larger area with a total absence of glare. The whole ceiling or wall acts like a low brightness light source using energy very efficiently.

In the outdoor environment the ability to light areas evenly without shining glare beyond the property lines can be a challenge, but it is indeed possible to do with proper wisdom. CRL strives to share some of that wisdom to help improve our nighttime environment and enhance public safety and security while saving energy and operating costs at the same time.

In the past two decades there have been many advances in illumination engineering. Originally, designers only considered how much light they had to work with and asked would it be enough? To be certain, with the low cost of electricity, a "more is always better" mindset was the norm. As we learned more about the interrelation of light and human vision a different thought process began to evolve. It is now known among a growing body of engineers, architects, and lighting designers that quality far outweighs quantity for almost every outdoor lighting application. IESNA recommended practices available from the Publications section of this web site teach the virtues of well executed lighting designs and demonstrate to a degree how it can be achieved.

Citizens for Responsible Lighting is a nonprofit member based educational organization that is dedicated to raising awareness about obtrusive outdoor lighting and protecting the nighttime environment through the application of prudent glare-free energy saving designs.