The International Dark Sky Association (IDA), founded by astronomers, consists of a wide variety of people concerned about light pollution in its three main forms: sky glow, light trespass and glare. Sky glow is the haze or ?EUR??,,????'?????<

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How Does All This Affect Landscape Architects?

The IDA estimates that over 25,000 lighting laws and ordinances exist in the U.S. alone. The state of California is moving ahead with its own legislation designed to conserve energy. Along with the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) and the California Energy Commission (CEC), the IDA embraces the idea that the maximum amount of illumination in an area should be based on classifications called ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Beginning in 2005, all California outdoor lighting projects, including landscape lighting, will be required to meet Title 24 energy usage regulations. Voluntary compliance is requested prior to 2005. Landscape architects and lighting designers will find that the use of some products is unrestricted, while the use of some fixtures, lamps and wattages will either be controlled or prohibited. For example, in ?EUR??,,????'?????<

In all other zones the use of landscape lighting fixtures up to 100 watts is unrestricted. Due to efficacy requirements, the use of 175-watt (or higher) mercury vapor lamps will not be permitted. Site or area lighting, along with building fa??????ade lighting will be regulated on a watts-per square-foot basis that is dependent on the designated usage and lighting zone. Most luminaires for street, site and area lighting will be required to meet IESNA standards for full cutoff distributions.

In other states and cities landscape lighting is facing control and/or curfew requirements. Some towns prohibit the use of lighting fixtures with any upward distribution. This effectively eliminates bullet uplights, well lights and direct burial uplights from designers?EUR??,,????'?????<

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For over 90 years, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) has remained the recognized technical authority on illumination. This three-day conference of educational sessions and exhibits is the only conference of its kind dedicated to educating lighting professionals on street and area lighting topics and technologies. Educational topics include best practices, the IESNA G-1 guideline for security lighting and source implication/light trespass.

For more information visit the IESNA?EUR??,,????'?????< www.iesna.org.