A Pragmatic Approach to Lighting Policy Incorporating Behaviour: The Example of Light Pollution

The use of light at night may contribute to the inappropriate or excessive use or presence of artificial light known as light pollution. Light pollution wastes huge amounts of electricity and money and contributes to global warming as well as having significant impacts on wildlife. There is a recognition that many of the issues that drive light pollution should be engaged by local, often pragmatic, governments. Lighting policies need to manage light pollution while also providing the intended services. To achieve this, local governments could develop policies and interventions in terms of three main considerations: functionality, technology, and the behaviours that comprise social usage. To determine to what extent this is being done, the lighting policies of the local governments of greater Melbourne are investigated, along with the related Australian Standards associated with lighting. Very few of the local governments in greater Melbourne had an explicit policy addressing light pollution and none of them considered the likelihood of behavioural issues such as rebounds in energy use. The results of this study suggest that policies that reduce light pollution, with controls to avoid behavioural complications such as rebound effects, should reduce costs for local governments and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.