Effects of external lighting on the environment

Dr Pun, Jason Chun Shing   (Principal Investigator (PI))

42

2019-07-01

2022-12-31

1761101

Effects of external lighting on the environment

Environment, External lighting

Environmental Studies and Science

Physical Sciences (P)

ECF Project 125/2018

Environment and Conservation Fund

2018

Completed

With the successful launch of the Charter on External Lighting in 2016, Hong Kong has taken an important step in reducing light pollution. We are also in the midst of a revolution in the type of lighting devices being deployed, migrating from traditional incandescent tungsten lamps to solid-state lighting such as LEDs. The first part of this project involves using the technique first pioneered by the PI in a previous ECF project to conduct a long-term monitoring of the light pollution in multiple urban and rural locations by establishing a 10-year history of the night sky brightness measurement at selected locations. The project will be supplemented by analyzing night-time satellite images to extend the geographic coverage. The second part of the project involves studying the type and weighting of lighting devices contributing to skyglow in Hong Kong using spectroscopic techniques. Through this project, we hope to establish the long-term evolution of the Hong Kong night sky. In particular we seek to help the government in reviewing the effectiveness of the Charter and find evidence of impacts of measures taken to reduce light pollution. We also hope to identify the actual composition of the urban and rural skyglow in our effort to promote more usage of dark sky friendly lighting in the society.