Tauranga streets to become brighter at cost to night sky and wildlife, says a professional photographer

Friday, 20 October 2017

Stunning photos of the Tauranga skyline may become impossible to capture if brighter LED lights are used to light the city streets.

Brighter LED street lighting for Tauranga could mean a total eclipse of the night sky, astro photographers say.

Tauranga City Council is proposing to spend more than $11 million to replace the traditional high-pressure sodium lights with brighter LED bulbs which use less energy.

Another shot that might become impossible if the city's lights up upgraded to LED.

Local star snappers are urging council to consider possible side affects of using the new bulbs saying the brighter bulbs would white out most of the night sky making stunning photos impossible.

'While LED lights are more cost efficient they are not really good in terms of other benefits including peoples' health,' award-winning astro photographer Amit Kamble said.

* Algae turns Australian beaches bright neon blue**

'Blue light is quite cold and it really upsets circadian rhythm. It's the same effect as having your computer or cell phone on when you are trying to sleep.

'The brighter light in Tauranga will also make taking photographs of the night sky and milky way impossible.'

Kamble said night photographers can adjust filters on their cameras to filter out the warmer glow of the traditional street lights as they have a low spectrum wave length.

'The brighter LED have a much wider spectrum which we cannot filter out,' he said.

'What I would like to see is the council look at using a warmer coloured LED and installing lampshades to restrict the light from going upwards. I'm interested to see what they do.'

Wildlife could also be affected with the brighter lights disrupting the circadian rhythm of birds, insects and marine life can mistake the blue light with moonlight which can affect their behaviour.

Council's transportation manager Martin Parkes said the proposal is still in the tender phase so the exact nature of the final product was still not known.

'We're seeking the best outcome in terms of safety, functionality and environment,' he said.

'4000 Kelvin is a better colour temperature for transport visibility and road safety so we're likely to favour 4000 Kelvin along main traffic routes while using 3000 for residential areas.

'Once complete we expect energy consumption will be between one third to half our current street light consumption.'

Parkes was unable to comment on whether new street lights will include lampshades to prevent light spilling into the night sky.