City Council Approves Innovative Lighting System By Local Company

The Chattanooga City Council voted Tuesday night in favor of Global Green Lighting's (GGL) proposal to replace the city of Chattanooga's streetlights with its wireless outdoor lighting control system.

The city agreed to a $6 million purchase of 5,200 LED lights from the local company in the first phase, then will eventually replace all of the city's 27,000 lights if the program works out as promised. Total cost for all the lights would be $18 million.

"After two years of design and development, we began successfully testing the world's first long-range wireless lighting control system last year," said Don Lepard, president of Global Green Lighting. "We couldn't be happier to have the opportunity to work with the city of Chattanooga on this project."

Dan Johnson, the mayor's chief of staff, said the lighting system has performed well in an initial phase at Coolidge Park. The system is designed so that lights can be remotely turned off and on. At Coolidge Park, police officers are able to control the lights from their patrol cars.

GGL combines its low energy light fixtures with the FlexNet enabled outdoor lighting system from smart grid infrastructure technology provider Sensus, making Chattanooga the first city in the world to deploy remote, two-way wireless communication for street lighting.

"This technology was primarily conceived, designed, developed, and tested here in Chattanooga and in Raleigh, N.C. It's fitting that Chattanooga is the first city where we launch," Mr. Lepard said. "We've had visitors from countries all over the world - including Australia, Germany, Canada and Switzerland - who have seen the technology demonstration on the North Shore. Now they can look to Chattanooga as the first to implement a city-wide deployment of the technology."

[A recent study done by the city and GGL determined that when the system is fully deployed the city can expect projected total operating cost savings of $2,700,000 over the next 15 years by switching to LED and induction lighting with the wireless outdoor lighting control system, officials said.

With the City Council's vote in favor of this proposal, GGL will begin filling new positions starting in June in its Chattanooga and Soddy Daisy facilities. GGL's newest Chattanooga location on Riverfront Parkway will be used as a corporate headquarters and technical training center.

This location will include an operator training facility, research and development center, and a planned semi-automated assembly line. GGL is planning to expand its Soddy Daisy facility to include production assembly lines that will be used to produce the lights for Chattanooga and other municipal and commercial deployments nationwide.

Light pollution disrupts plant, animal and human rhythms

A child of the suburbs, I was 40 before I saw the Milky Way, our home galaxy.

Lying on my back on a prairie hilltop near Manhattan gave me a long overdue sense of my size and place in the larger universe, a sense my ancestors, living in a much darker world, had taken for granted.

Because of light pollution, more than two-thirds of the world’s people cannot see the Milky Way. Views of the night sky aren’t the only casualties of light pollution.

Vegetation of all kinds, including fruit trees and gardens, suffer ill effects of continuous light. It inhibits a plant’s ability to form and maintain chlorophyll in its leaves. Chlorophyll is the substance made by plants that turns leaves green and allows the plant to convert nutrients into food. Light pollution also interferes with plant flowering and promotes leggy growth.

Light pollution also disrupts the lives of animals, sometimes fatally so. It disrupts feeding and breeding activities in nocturnal animals ― half of the world’s species ― including birds, bats, frogs, salamanders, fish, fireflies and zooplankton. It alters their circadian rhythms, changing the balance in predator–prey relationships and causing sometimes-fatal hormonal imbalances.

Migratory birds are at particular risk in light-polluted areas. Birds navigate by the stars, and the relatively recent intrusion of artificial light from cities can confuse them. During a storm event, birds can drop below the cloud deck looking for visual or magnetic clues from the night sky. Many die from collisions with windows. Others, already tired from their migratory journeys, hover in the moisture halo around artificial lights like moths and drop dead from exhaustion or are taken by predators.

Like our animal relatives, we humans suffer from light pollution as well. Disrupted circadian rhythms suppress melatonin production. Reduced levels of this beneficial tumor-suppressing hormone can result in increased risk of breast and other cancers.

Excessive lighting can also lead to conflicts between neighbors. When Lisa and I first bought our house, we left our back porch lights on all the time in a misguided attempt to keep ourselves and our property safe.

With exquisite tact, our neighbor across the alley asked us if we could turn off or redirect the lights since one of them beamed directly into his ill mother’s bedroom, keeping her awake. In a very real way, we had been trespassing. A couple of hundred dollars later, we had installed motion-detecting lights and beamed them toward the ground where the light belonged.

It’s a good idea for homeowners to check their property line after dark to see if they are intruding on another person’s right to darkness. If in doubt, ask your neighbor.

Reducing outdoor lighting will also cut down your carbon footprint and energy bills.

Getting the shot you think you saw!

After last week’s blog concerning the qualities of the outdoor light at this time of, several photographers asked why their sunrise and sunset images did not match what they saw. The answer has three parts.

Anytime you work with your camera in picture taking situations you are aware of the surroundings with all of your senses. The relationships among the various sounds, smells, etcetera, reinforce each other and strengthen our experiences. It is not possible to match that happening in a photo, which is only a visual stimulus. There are certain times when I will just stand and try to soak it all in. At these times the person with me will often be surprised because I am not taking any photos. That box of 3 by 5 index cards in my brain has taught me over many years that the situation is not going to be captured in an image.

Galesburg native and author Mike Morrison commented on last week’s Focus Ring blog: “…When the first color films came out, it was discovered that shots taken indoors in incandescent lighting appeared yellow and even orange. Those early films had to be specifically formulated for the type of lighting in which they would be used. Budding photographers had either to buy two kinds of film or use filters to adapt one kind to the other lighting.The name for this parameter is white balance, and present-day digital cameras do it automatically. Alas, doing this may ruin the effect of the individual character of the different kinds of light.To make the most of different lighting, the good photographer needs to be aware of this and should read the manual and learn how to override or manage the camera's white balance to obtain the desired effect in the photograph. Usually, it makes the shot look natural, but sometimes, it will correct out the effect you're going for.”

Mike has brought up the fact that your eyes automatically correct when the hue of the light changes. You can test this out in a few minutes. Pick up your camera and take a photo. Now find the White Balance settings and shoot a few more photos of the same subject in the same light, changing the White Balance setting each time. When you review the series of photos you’ll notice a definite color change as you go from image to image.

Predicting how color tones and saturation are going to be recorded in a digital file is pretty tricky. The best approach is to give yourself some options to choose from. Most digital cameras have at least one, if not both of the capabilities described here. #1 Exposure Compensation (Ex Comp) allows you to adjust the exposure the camera has set by adding or subtracting some light to\from the exposure. This control is usually a button or dial on the camera that can be accessed quickly (see photos) The plus\minus on the button is the usual icon. #2 Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) is usually found in the menus. When you select Automatic Exposure Bracketing the camera will choose one exposure (based upon what its metering thinks is right) and then it will take one other shot on either side of this best guess (one over exposed and one underexposed). Using either of these methods should yield a variety of images with varying tonal values and color saturation getting you much closer to that image you thought you saw.

Tribune Outdoors Expo offer funs for everyone

The 21st Tampa Tribune Outdoors Expo & Boat Show will feature a record number of how-to clinics, seminars and hands-on learning opportunities packed into a three-day event.

More than 100 sessions are scheduled for the seven stages in Expo Hall and the lakes behind it. Just about everybody who is anybody in the state's outdoors industry will be there.

Among the headliners is captain Mike Anderson, the Tampa Bay area's all-everything fishing media star, co-host of TV shows, a couple of radio shows and a series of standing-room-only fishing conversations at Gator Ford that have become a tradition for many anglers. Anderson's co-host, captain Billy Nobles, also will participate. Nobles might be the funniest guy in Tampa Bay fishing media, if that title does not belong to Mike Mahoney, host of the "T.A. Mahoney Reel Animals Fishing Show" on WDAE, 620 AM, who also will attend.

Not to be overlooked is the glee-some threesome from ESPN 1040, captains Jason Prieto, Danny Guarino and Ric Lyles, who bring their own brand of good humor and fishing know-how to the stages daily. Captain Bill Miller, who has a webcast show, will appear daily, and so will captain C.A. Richardson of "Flats Class TV."

Glen Pla, host and writer of "Average Angler" on Bright House, appears at 3:30 on Saturday. Pla is not only one of Florida's most creative TV producers, but he also is an outstanding angler with expertise on Tampa Bay. The show also features "Count Snookula" Dave Pomerleau, also known as The Mad Snooker, whose chalk-white skin rarely sees the light of day. Pomerleau is among the most successful guides for lunker snook on the West Coast, and he delivers a gangbusters seminar.

Pro bass angler Chuck Devereaux returns to entertain at the Bass Tub, the giant glass aquarium stocked with lunker largemouths. Famed fly-caster and world-class instructor Nick Curcione of Temple Fork Rods is at the casting pond daily.

The show also offers a large selection of fishing boats, including one of the first public showings of the new Sportsman line of center consoles from Family Boating Center. Owner Paul Knop says the new boats are built by the guys who started Sea Pro and Key West, noted names in the center console biz for decades, and they offer the same sort of quality and fishing layout at an affordable price.

For kids, there are casting derbies, archery opportunities and the FWC fishing derbies on Saturday and Sunday, plus the popular dog training sessions at the lakes with Phil Devore. And for women, there are regular "Ladies at the Helm" clinics, plus nautical fashion shows.

High Intensity LED Boat Light with PWM LED Drivers

The LED-BL-70W LED boat light from Magnalight.com draws only 70 watts @5.84 amps when connected to 12 VDC current yet produces over 6,000 lumens of intense white light. Designed for harsh marine environments, this powerful LED boat light is IP68 rated waterproof to three meters and fully sealed against intrusion from water, dust and contaminants. Containing seven 10 watt Cree LEDs, this compact LED boat light produces more light than comparable halogen boat lights, yet uses less power and lasts for 50,000 hours of operation. To provide highly versatile operation and excellent heat control, this LED boat light contains advanced pulse width modulation (PWM) LED drivers that actively monitor LED heat and modify current accordingly to maintain an optimum LED operating temperature, in turn providing maximum LED output and lifespan over a wide range of operating conditions. These advanced LED drivers provide additional versatility by allowing users to connect external dimmer or strobe controls, which allows operators to precisely control light output as well as function. As well as function and heat control, the PWM driver technology in these high intensity LED lights also automatically adjust input current to the proper levels, allowing these units to be used with electrical voltages ranging from 9 to 48 volts DC without the need for added hardware or transformers. Heavy duty aluminum housing construction and unbreakable polycarbonate lenses provide excellent durability that allows these LED lights to withstand the demanding condition of harsh and corrosive salt water environments without any reduction in performance. The CREE XLamp MC-E? LEDs used in these units offer the highest possible LED quality and are rated at 70% lumen maintenance after 50,000 hours of operation, making these units far longer lived than comparable halogen boat lights. An adjustable trunnion mounting design with a single mounting stud allows users to mount these LED lights to almost any surface that will accept a mounting hole and provides 90 degrees of vertical adjustment once mounted. These LED boat lights are ideal replacements for incandescent, halogen, and even metal halide boat lights, and offer durability, power, and longevity that none of these old lighting technologies can match.

“Good lighting is a must for boaters to navigate safely in the early morning and night hours; the LED-BL-70W meets the need with 6020 lumens of bright white light to guide boaters on their journey safely”. LED technology with watertight construction and low amp draw on low voltage circuits can't be beat as a replacement for old incandescent boat lights.”