The Transitional Fixture

This is actually an ingenius idea. My professor was using his noggin the other day when I brought my news of Bill Leach to class. He suggested that for these horrendous lollipop fixtures that we come up with a transitional fixture, some kind of metal hat, over the tops of the lollipop lights to keep the light from shining up!

Now, I had some concerns initially with this project. I thought, "uh oh whaat if it gets too hot and starts a fire or something?" So, I took the idea to one of my engineering friends because I thought that he would know better about something like this. He would know what materials to use and if it could be manipulated, etc. Before I let the discussion go on any further I decided to contact ol' Bill again to see what he had to say on the subject.

Hello Mr. Leach!

I hope that you are well. I am sending this email as a reminder to you and myself about the favors you are doing for me. I would love a copy of the new map once it is finished. I would also like the total wattage that is used by outdoor/indoor lighting on campus. If you are only able to give me the outdoor data that is more than fine.

I also wanted to bring up another topic with you. Last week, during my class on Tuesday. I brought up the conversation I had with you to my class. I tried to remember everything we talked about, and the something my professor picked up on was how long the process of replacing the "lollipop" fixtures will take. So, the idea came up of installing some kind of transitional fixture. Some ideas that were thrown around were painting the tops of the lights with heat resistant paint, or adding a galvanized metal to the top of the fixture, to shine the light down. I was wondering if you could add any insight to this, about whether or not it would be possible to do, where the potential funding could come from. I was thinking that I could apply for a SCIF grant to fund the project, and my professor said that he has an engineering student that could work on designing a fixture with me. If you could let me know if this is allowed or feasible, that would be great. I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,

Courtney Hoyt

THAT was the original email that I sent to Bill, just to see what he said could and could not be done. I awaited his reply most anxiously, but I had a feeling that the news wouldn't be good. Everything had been going too well up to this point and some bad news had to come along and spoil all of the fun...

And so it did...

Hello Courtney, I read through your email with the suggestions for temporary light fixture fixes. You had some interesting ideas and I wish the solutions were that feasible but unfortunately there are problems associated with the approach you suggest. We hope to replace all of the lollipops this year so they will not be a problem. We have not been able to modify those fixtures in the past because painting the globes cause heat buildup within the fixture which leads to premature lamp and ballast failure and can also actually melt the acrylic globe. That is the same is true for the globe fixtures at Ft. Douglas. Modifying a fixture can also lead to it losing its UL rating, which makes the University liable for any injuries caused from a fixture failure, even if is not directly related to the modification. Modifying a fixture also causes a change in its photo metrics which means that it no longer performs the same. As we replace the old fixtures with new dark-sky compliant ones, we often must change the pole spacing to make sure we maintain proper illumination. With the exception of the lollipops and the Ft. Douglas fixtures, all the rest of the fixtures used on campus have some sort of shield limiting, if not completely eliminating up light. While not a technical issue, the matter of aesthetics is important as well. While fitting a hood atop the fixture would prevent light from traveling upwards, it will affect its look, perhaps in an adverse way, and while that seem unimportant when compared to light pollution issues, it is something that must be considered. There is one other issue with modifying a fixture that should be mentioned. Changing the fixture does not reduce the amount of energy needed to power the fixture. New fixtures that are designed to be dark-sky friendly also use 30 to 40 percent less energy and that goes along ways towards decreasing the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. The campus standard LED fixtures use from between 66 and 73 watts, depending on the manufacturer. When compared to the 175 watt fixtures that are due to be replaced, the energy savings become readily apparent. For these, and other reasons, the University has chosen a course of replacing fixtures with dark-sky compliant ones. It will take us a little longer to achieve the results we are looking for, but it should, in the end, address all of the competing issues and complaints that arise from the existing light fixtures. I hope that my response does not sound too negative as the goals of night sky friendly and energy efficiency lighting are not only important to the University, but are personally important to me as well. I believe that the brainstorming efforts that you and your class have gone through is a great thing as the process of a free exchange of ideas, leads to solutions that we have not yet considered. Because of that, I would be happy to continue this discussion with you and/or your class. Thanks again and I will get maps to you as soon as they are produced. Regards, Bill Leach Lighting Specialist University of Utah

That was his reply and then he sent me his "regards" PAH! The only thing I feel like he regards me as is insignificantly annoying! Oh well, you're always going to have those kinds of people in your life, trying to make everything you want to do difficult and tell you it's against the rules. But as Professor Goldsmith always says, "do it first, ask permission later." I honestly wonder if that motto has ever landed him in a foreign jail or something! I could see that happening...

Anyways, this definitely deterred us from pursuing this project, because I don't like to get in trouble! I know I'm SO lame. Maybe I will continue with the design process with my buddy to see if we can't come up with something awesome that maybe some art students could design! Seems like a cool idea, but I don't know if I have the resources to orchestrate everything. We will see how this all plays out, but Ashley and I are not feeling good about it. It seems to be distracting from our original goal of providing education about light pollution to the campus.