Dark Skies Northwest Regional Meeting - December 2nd, 2000
Dark Skies Northwest Regional Meeting - December 2nd, 2000 |
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Presented by: J. Delvin Armstrong,
P.E.
425.885.2195
del@softlite.com
Full cutoff (no light emitted above the plane of the luminaire) sports lighting was developed in the Puget Sound area in 1989 – 1990. The first installation was made on two soccer fields at Meadowdale Park in Lynnwood, Washington in 1990. In the ensuing 11 years, over 60 more installations have been built. Most have been in the Puget Sound area but there are now lighted sports facilities in Glendale, Arizona, San Diego, California, Incline Village, Nevada and Reno, Nevada.
Sports lighting systems are one of the most prominent facilities producing unwanted light into the night sky as well as the surrounding neighborhoods. Many have thought this system was the complete solution to lighting sports facilities. The system is ideally suited to use on neighborhood recreational level facilities. The good news is that these facilities comprise the majority of sports lighting installations. The system does not work well or requires extensive additions to be used on facilities with large numbers of spectators. This presentation will review the history of the full cutoff sports lighting system and detail some of its limitations.