Dark Sky Lighting Standards and Policies

Updated 8/18/09

KSHCP Applicants and Participants are required to implement avoidance and minimization of impacts (listed 1-4 below).

However, any business, home, or agency not in the HCP can use the following guidelines and ideas referenced in the minimization tab of this website.

KSHCP Applicants, Participants, and Seabird Friendly Business/Agencies implement the following:

1 - Adjust lights to avoid and minimize risk to seabirds (see references below)

2 - Adjust building and landscape features to avoid and minimize risk to seabirds (ie. use shades, etching, screens, vegetation)

3 -Train staff to search actively during the fallout season and respond to downed seabirds safely and quickly

4 - Monitor impacts and search and rescue outcomes using standardized KSHCP forms (there are only 2!).

Please contact us for more information on the above.

NEW! 2009 Kauai Seabird HCP Lighting Solutions and Guidelines

Published Lighting Standards

The KSHCP office is interested in promoting development of a County lighting ordinance to decrease both artificial light pollution and risk to listed seabirds and other native wildlife. There is no Kauai County lighting/dark sky ordinance at this time (August 2009).

However, there are several sources of lighting standards at the national and international levels that provide practical and effective lighting standards, some of which are highlighted below as a starting point:

• Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA); recommended practice “Lighting for Exterior Environments” RP-33-99; 
• IDA Outdoor Lighting Code Handbook Version 1.14, December 2000 / September 2002;
• National Lighting Product Information Program (NLPIP). 2004 Specifier Reports. Parking Lot and Area Luminares. Volume 9 Number 1, July 2004. www.lrc.rpi.edu;
• Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)  building certification projects have shown that using full cutoff/fully shielded, low energy fixtures puts more light on the ground where most needed and lowers long-term energy costs significantly at a nominal investment price;
• The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG-United Kingdom, 1997) and the Institution of Lighting Engineers have published several guidance documents on good lighting practices to minimize light pollution of the night sky, and glare hazards to drivers and nuisance to neighbors.  The design guidance has been used on installations for streets, sport arenas, and security lighting.  These lighting recommendations are facility specific but include light angling, spacing, shielding, energy saving practices, and incorporation of colors in surrounding environment. According to the DCLG the principles for good security lighting practices include photo-electric switches on time settings, lighting mounted below the property boundary height, balancing light levels to avoid glare and unnecessary light spill, and use of closed-circuit television cameras; and
• The Astronomical Society of Malta (Pace 2000) has published guidelines for the reduction of light pollution.

Many of the references listed above provide the same if not overlapping standards further indicating their acceptance in the scientific, engineering and policy communities.

Some basic definitions obtained from IDA, NLPIP, and IESNA that will be used in defining HCP minimization strategies include:

• Luminaire (light fixture): A complete lighting unit consisting of one or more electric lamps, the lamp holder, any reflector or lens, ballast (if any), and any other components and accessories;
• Fully shielded (full cutoff) luminaire: A luminaire emitting no light above the horizontal plane.
• Landscape lighting:  Luminaries mounted in or at grade (but not more than 3 feet above grade) and used solely for landscape rather than any area lighting;
• Light pollution is a by-product of lighting at night, especially when lighting is excessive. It includes such effects as sky glow, light trespass, and glare. Minimizing light pollution and wasted energy begins by lighting to the minimum light levels needed, choosing efficient luminaires and lamps, and turning the lights off when not needed;
• Uplight: Light directed upward at angles greater than 90° from nadir. The source of uplight can be from direct uplight from a luminaire, reflected light from the ground and other surfaces, or a combination of the two. Uplight causes sky glow;
• Sky Glow: Occurs from both natural and human-made sources. Natural sky glow is well-quantified, but electric lighting also increases night sky brightness. Light that is either emitted directly upward by luminaries or reflected from the ground is scattered by dust and gas molecules in the atmosphere, producing a luminous background. It can reduce one’s ability to view the stars. Sky glow is highly variable depending on immediate weather conditions, the quantity of dust and gas in the atmosphere, the amount of light directed skyward, and the direction from which it is viewed. In poor weather conditions, more particles are present in the atmosphere to scatter the upward-bound light, so sky glow becomes a highly visible effect of wasted light and wasted energy;
• Spill light: Light from a lighting installation that falls outside of the boundaries of the property on which it is located. Usually results in obtrusive light;
• Obtrusive light: Spill light that causes glare, annoyance, discomfort, or loss of visual ability. 
• Glare:   Intense and blinding light. Causes visual discomfort or disability;
• Light Trespass:  The shining of light produced by a luminaire beyond the boundaries of the property on which it is located; and
• Lumen:  A unit of luminous flux.  One footcandle is one lumen per square foot.

Architectural Guidelines

There are no official policies or guidelines for seabird impact avoidance and minimization on Kauai.

Howver, there are two resources on line and based in Canada.

1) The Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) in Canada addresses the threats of lights and buildings to migratory birds and many of the strategies in the FLAP documents can help prevent escape of indoor light and reduce risk that some buildings to seabirds. Strategies that prevent escape of light at night (shielding. screening, etching, drapes) windows with various techniques can prevent escape of light at night to protect seabirds and also reduce daytime reflections that can impact non-seabird species.

2) The Toronto City Council implemented Bird-Friendly Development Guidelines as part of their Migratory Bird Policies and building managers in Toronto have adopted tenant-awareness programs encouraging selective use of lighting to reduce light pollution and attraction of birds.   Download the pdf version of these Guidelines at the link provided above.