I see that street lights and the problems they pose here on the island are finally getting some attention! The Tribune Herald reports in it’s article today County weighs LED streetlights:
The latest bright idea from Hawaii County’s senior traffic engineer aims to make nighttime driving safer and slash electricity use without blinding astronomers.
More then two years ago I asked what could be done to help improve lighting on the Big Island roads.
I sent Big Island astronomer Andrew Cooper the following letter on September 8, 2008:
Dear Andrew,
With today’s technology and the High Powered telescopes that you folks have atop Mauna Kea… is it really necessary that the street lights be so dim over the entire island that it makes for driving on the roads dangerous?
Many lives have been lost because of the road conditions on these islands and I’m convinced that lighting at nights is part of the problem.
Any pertinent information would help as I research ways to make these roads safer.
Cooper quickly responded stating:
The streetlights do have an impact on the telescopes. There is a reason my website is called “A Darker View”, the impacts of light on astronomical observation is significant. Astronomers come to Hawai’i to escape the massive lighting found around major metro areas, there are few places in the mainland US unaffected by artificial light. The enormous amount of electric outdoor lighting has an impact on our lives, our pocket books, on our health and on wildlife. Many of these impacts are quite negative. We are in love with electric light and we use it extravagantly. I am not saying turn all the lights off, we need to consider safety, but better design and better lights can reduce the need for light and increase safety. Use it where we need it and not everywhere.
http://data.nextrionet.com/site/idsa/2001cinzanofirstworldatlas.pdf
Astronomers prefer that the streetlights that are installed be low pressure sodium (LPS), these are the yellow lights installed for all civic lighting in Hawai’i. These have two big advantages, they emit on a single wavelength allowing astronomers to filter that wavelength out of the data. They are also far more power efficient to run, emitting more light per watt than competing halide or mercury lights. This saves
the County of Hawai’i and the taxpayers, who must pay the power bill for all of these lights, an enormous amount of money.
http://www.darksky.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=59499
A couple other advantages to LPS, the bulbs last longer and keep a good light output until failure (competing technologies dim with age) and the yellow light output (589nm) is nearer the peak photopic sensitivity of the human eye, meaning we see better with less light and energy. The situation with respect to lighting type and effectiveness in safety is complex and depends on a lot of factors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_vapor_lamp
http://patmullins.com/img/lumeneff.pdf
It may be more a case of badly designed and poorly chosen lights. Many of the lights I do see on the island are older, inefficient designs. A modern light is much better at putting its light where needed, on the ground and on the road and not all across the neighborhood around it. The differences are primarily in the reflector and lens design, the newer lights were designed on computer optical CAD software that takes
the guesswork out of the equation. These lights give better
illumination on the road for the same amount of power and light.
https://secure.ge-lightingsystems.com/gels01/r2/productcentral/htmls/5_23.html
Better lights for reducing glare and reducing light pollution are full cutoff types. I see a lot of the non-cutoff types where glare is a problem, look for a big glass dome hanging below the light fixture, full cutoff does not have this. Without the full cutoff you see the light, which is bright, but everything else, including the road below is dim in comparison, this is a glare problem. Full cutoff also has the advantage of not shining in the windows of surrounding homes.
http://www.darksky.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=59804
I have felt that many streets on the island, particularly in residential neighborhoods are badly over-lit. There is quite a bit of research that shows that too much light at night messes with our hormonal cycles needed for good sleep, particularly with melatonin, with a range of health impacts. Getting county lights out of the neighborhoods and onto the streets and critical intersections would help without increasing the power bills. But considering the many people who do not understand the
issues, and are in love with light for all the wrong reasons, this is unlikely.
http://data.nextrionet.com/site/idsa/breastcancerstevens.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17805428?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
Sorry about the long message, a bit of a pet peeve subject. But much of the astronomy community, amateur and professional is a little sensitive on this subject.
Andrew Cooper
A couple of days later I posted this:
I drove home tonight along H-130 during the evening time for the first time in a while. I’ve been thinking about H-130 for awhile and what we can do to make it safer.
H-130 Needs more lighting.
I emailed Andrew Cooper the other day and he gave me reasonings for the street lights on this island here and here.
While I take his scientific knowledge as a great learning tool… as the layman that I am… I just can’t take this as a reason to why we should continue risking lives here on the island.
I understand the bulbs could be different… I understand it’s a touchy subject to the scientific community…
But when the Scientific Community starts losing family members on Big Island roads due to poor lighting… maybe they will listen?
I’m not saying we need bright lights all over the place… but on a main Highway such as H-130 something needs to be done to improve the lighting… immediately.
Filed under: Big Island, County Council, Environment, Highway 130, Rumors, Something New?, Technology, Transportation, UH, Unexplained Phenomenon | Tagged: Driving on the Big Island, Lights on the Big Island, Mauna Kea vs. Street Lights | 1 Comment »
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Bay Clinic Rolls Out New Electronic System
Media Release:
As of January 1st, Bay Clinic will undergo a major transition in the way it manages its business. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly known as the Stimulus Package, provided Bay Clinic and other community health centers throughout the country with funding to help upgrade information technology systems. One of Bay Clinic’s four stimulus-funded programs targeted for overhaul is its Practice Management system. Currently, Bay Clinic manages all aspects of its business including patient scheduling and billing with a software program created in the early 1990’s. “Despite the fact that technology has advanced dramatically over the past few decades, we simply could not afford to update our software programs until now” stated Paul Strauss, Bay Clinic CEO.
The new software program which cost nearly $300,000 manages patient flow, including scheduling of appointments, accounts receivable, collections, registration, data reporting, and insurance managed care. It also helps track referrals to specialists. It is a NextGen product that can fully integrate with Bay Clinic’s Electronic Health Record system for improved efficiency and data collection. Once implemented, the new system is expected to improve patient service as well as support the vital business functions of the organization.
When asked how this will impact patients, Jason Ferreira, Bay Clinic’s Health Information Technology Director said “ultimately, we will have updated information on the 16,000 patients we serve which will improve patient registration and appointment scheduling, but any change of this magnitude will cause some delays at first. So, we’re asking for patience for the next 30 to 60 days as we complete the transition”.
“One way patients can help”, said Sarah Nae’ole, who is helping to coordinate the transition “is if patients can bring their I.D.’s and insurance cards to their appointments and if they are uninsured, then some form of income verification so that they can receive discounted services if they qualify.”
Bay Clinic is making new patient registration forms on their website at www.bayclinic.org to help expedite the process. People can print them out and bring them to their appointments.
Bay Clinic already has an Electronic Health Record system that was implemented in 2006 and is a member of the Hawaii County Beacon Community for Health Information Exchange. The new electronic practice management system nearly completes Bay Clinic’s electronic health information technology infrastructure. According to the Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sibelius, Health Information Technology has bipartisan support due to its ability to improve quality and ultimately lower costs. In early 2011, Bay Clinic will be implementing an Electronic Dental Record system, also funded by the Stimulus Act, to complete their transition to a fully electronic health care environment.
Founded as a grass roots women’s health clinic at Hilo Bay front, Bay Clinic has grown into one of the largest nonprofit providers of health care on the Island with a mission to provide high quality health care regardless of ability to pay. For more information, please email madams@bayclinic.org.
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Filed under: aloha, Announcements, Guest Commentator, Hawaii, Health, Something New?, Technology | Tagged: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Bay Clinic Hawaii, Electronic health record, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services | 1 Comment »