{"id":2916,"date":"2015-02-26T16:34:33","date_gmt":"2015-02-26T22:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/electricityexpress.com\/?p=2916"},"modified":"2024-03-29T17:23:12","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T22:23:12","slug":"light-pollution-how-to-see-more-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/electricityexpress.com\/en\/blog\/2015\/02\/26\/light-pollution-how-to-see-more-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"Light Pollution: How to See More Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Light Pollution: How to See More Stars in Your Neighborhood<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>Light pollution<\/strong><\/em> slips the minds of most people. \u00a0It certainly hasn&#8217;t been a priority for me. \u00a0As someone who is somewhat afraid of the dark, it&#8217;s not easy for me to walk around alone at night time. When the sun goes down, I&#8217;ll be the first one flipping light switches. \u00a0Forget walking around outside at night without company. \u00a0Only a few weeks ago, I house-sat for a friend and took care of her two dogs. \u00a0She doesn&#8217;t have a fenced-in yard, so I had to take them out every night to do their thing before bedtime. \u00a0Great.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2953 size-full aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/electricityexpress.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/Light-Pollution.jpg\" alt=\"Light Pollution: How to See More Stars in Your Neighborhood\" width=\"150\" height=\"109\" \/>Yet what a treat it was. \u00a0She lives out in the middle of nowhere, and there are almost no streetlights. \u00a0That means that when the sun sets, the stars come out in force. \u00a0More than once, I caught myself staring up at the night sky and thinking, &#8220;Wow&#8230;I wish it could always be like this.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>#ElectricityExpress<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0obviously makes money from selling electricity. \u00a0But we still take very seriously the issue of <em><strong>saving our environment<\/strong><\/em>. \u00a0As utility company employees, we are in a unique position to work directly with the public to raise awareness of what can be done to <em><strong>help our environment<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\">What is Light Pollution? Light Pollution: How to See More Stars<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Have you seen Chevy Chase&#8217;s Christmas Vacation? You&#8217;ll remember the scene where he blinds his neighbors when he turns on the outdoor Christmas lights. \u00a0That would definitely be an example of light pollution. \u00a0For a more scientific definition,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Light_pollution\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wikipedia<\/a>\u00a0says that light pollution is &#8220;excessive, misdirected, or obtrusive artificial light.&#8221; \u00a0Most of us think of pollution as being roadside trash or car exhaust. \u00a0Yet light pollution does harm our environment.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Effects of Light Pollution<\/h3>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><strong>Energy waste<\/strong> &#8211; This is the most obvious. \u00a0Our natural resources are not infinite. \u00a0Turning off unneeded lights is a simple way to <em><strong>conserve energy<\/strong><\/em>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Animals and ecosystems<\/strong> &#8211; Let&#8217;s face it, the animals were here first. \u00a0In particular, animals who are nocturnal have their lives thrown out of balance by our light pollution. \u00a0This interesting Discovery article talks about how light pollution adversely affects migratory birds and newborn sea turtles.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The night sky\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; What can be seen without all the excess light is truly amazing. \u00a0It&#8217;s spectacular enough to make someone like myself forget to be nervous about being outside in the dark. \u00a0I don&#8217;t have a clue what the constellations are, but I do know beauty when I see it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Atmospheric pollution\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211;\u00a0A meeting of the <a href=\"http:\/\/sites.agu.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">American Geophysical Union<\/a> said\u00a0that light pollution harms nitrate radicals. This in turn prevents the usual\u00a0nightly lowering of atmospheric smog produced by fumes from factories and cars.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some Causes of Light Pollution:<\/h3>\n<ol style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Not using timers<\/strong><\/span> &#8211; Most of us are too busy worrying about other things to remember to turn off lights. \u00a0Am I the only person who woke up Sunday morning and saw I&#8217;d left the porch light on all night? \u00a0Yet Lowes, for example, has timers that can do the trick for you. \u00a0They&#8217;re handy to have and ultimately lower your electric bill.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Misdirected light<\/strong><\/span> &#8211; Make sure that your lamps and overhead lighting are directed to where they&#8217;re needed. \u00a0Otherwise, you&#8217;ll probably turn on more lights to make up for the lighting misuse.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Daylight lighting<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0&#8211; Lights are used unnecessarily during the daytime to deter crime or for businesses to attract customers. \u00a0I&#8217;ve seen a lot of that last one. \u00a0During the daytime, it should be obvious that a business is open. \u00a0Yet everything is lit up like it&#8217;s Las Vegas.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Stop Light Pollution and Help the Environment<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hollywood is having a great time making end-of-the-world movies based on our planet self-destructing. \u00a0Are they right? \u00a0I don&#8217;t know. \u00a0However, \u00a0I do think we all have a responsibility to do what we can to protect our planet. \u00a0Let&#8217;s not get to the point where we all look back and say, &#8220;If only we had started conserving energy when we had the chance.&#8221; \u00a0Stopping light pollution is an easy way to get the ball rolling.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">You are always welcome to call <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Electricity Express<\/strong><\/span> and pick our brains for more ways to save energy and money. \u00a0In the meantime, please continue to follow our <a href=\"http:\/\/electricityexpress.com\/en\/power-blog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">blog<\/a> for more ideas and advice. \u00a0<span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Electricity Express<\/strong><\/span> &#8211; we&#8217;ve got you covered.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>Cheapest electricity service in Texas<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/electricityexpress.com\/en\/power-blog\/\">Check our Power Blog for more ideas on how to save energy<\/a><\/p>\n<h4>No Deposit Electricity Texas<\/h4>\n<p><strong>855-781-6970<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/account.paylesspower.com\/enroll\/750778\">Energy plans and sign-ups, click here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Light Pollution: How to See More Stars in Your Neighborhood Light pollution slips the minds of most people. \u00a0It certainly hasn&#8217;t been a priority for me. \u00a0As someone who is somewhat afraid of the dark, it&#8217;s not easy for me to walk around alone at night time. When the sun goes down, I&#8217;ll be the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129,54,97],"tags":[67],"class_list":["post-2916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-electricity-express","category-energy-efficiency","category-protect-environment","tag-environment"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfEdyg-L2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/electricityexpress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/electricityexpress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/electricityexpress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electricityexpress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electricityexpress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/electricityexpress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2916\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/electricityexpress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electricityexpress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electricityexpress.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}