Light Pollution

Light pollution is the excessive use of light or improper lighting, especially in public lighting, causing glare, shining into people’s houses and brightening the night sky. This is called light pollution.

1. Classify

Light pollution is often divided into several types such as:

• Intrusive light is light that enters other people’s living areas without their wishes. For example, shining a light through a neighbor’s fence.
• Overuse of light: Using light more than necessary and for the wrong purpose wastes a huge amount of energy.
• Glare: is the result of opposition between bright and dark areas in vision.
• Clutter: A group of light with no definite direction and scattered haphazardly.
• Sky glow: These are halos, bright areas of the night sky in inhabited areas.

      2. Reason

• As a result of civilized lifestyle, developed industry, strong urbanization process… Because development in all aspects will increase economic life, the demand for light increases excessively.
• Additionally, light pollution can originate from a number of factors

             + Turn on lighting devices when not in use

             + Using too many light sources in the same area

             + Choosing the wrong fixtures or bulbs, not directing light to the necessary areas

             + Poor lighting design, specifying light levels higher than necessary for a given visual task. leads to using more energy than necessary

      3. Harmful effects of light pollution

• Affects human health and human psychology: causes phenomena such as fatigue, headaches, stress, anxiety and decreased sexual function,… According to IARC Cancer Research Agency According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2007, light pollution causes circadian rhythm disorders, thereby leading to cancer.
• Impact on the socio-economy

             + Wastes energy: lighting accounts for ¼ of the world’s energy consumption. Of these, 50 – 90% of lighting in buildings is unnecessary.

             + Affects astronomical observations

• Disrupting the ecosystem: night light reduces the activity of insects, nocturnal creatures or night-blooming flowers that rely on these insects for pollination, which is also affected…

      4. Remedies

• Use only enough light for your needs
• Turn off lights or use timers when not needed
• Choose appropriate lighting equipment: enough lighting, focusing lighting on the necessary area, light wavelengths that have little impact on the surrounding environment…

To reduce light pollution, there needs to be the cooperation of the community and society in reducing glare, sky-occupying light, light intrusion, and cluttered light.

REFERENCES

“Ô nhiễm ánh sáng và hiểm họa khôn lường.” Ô nhiễm ánh sáng và hiểm họa khôn lường, 2021, https://vov.gov.vn/o-nhiem-anh-sang-va-hiem-hoa-khon-luong-dtnew-318198. Accessed 27 September 2023.

“Ô nhiễm ánh sáng – Wikipedia tiếng Việt.” Wikipedia, https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%94_nhi%E1%BB%85m_%C3%A1nh_s%C3%A1n. Accessed 27 September 2023.