STAR LIGHT

A LA CONQUISTA DE LAS ESTRELLAS: STAR LIGHT

TO THE CONQUEST OF THE STARS: STARLIGHT

Ricardo Morcillo*

Est谩n ah铆, pero ya no podemos disfrutar de ellas.

La llegada de la luz artificial a nuestras vidas supuso una de las mayores revoluciones tecnol贸gicas y sociales de la historia. Entre otros beneficios, conseguimos prolongar los d铆as para poder seguir disfrutando de la ciudad y sus posibilidades mejorando la seguridad en las calles al margen de la oscuridad de la noche.

Sin embargo, como sucede en muchos otros desarrollos urbanos y arquitect贸nicos, el fren茅tico crecimiento de la iluminaci贸n artificial no solamente ha otorgado privilegios a nuestro entorno.

Ricardo Morcillo*

They are there, but we can not enjoy them anymore.

The arrival of artificial light in our lives was one of the greatest technological and social revolutions in history. Among other benefits, we managed to prolong the days in order to continue enjoying the city and its possibilities by improving safety on the streets outside the darkness of the night.

However, as in many other urban and architectural developments, the frenzied growth of artificial lighting has not only granted privileges to our environment.

Light Pollution Map 1992
Light Pollution Map 2002

Hoy m谩s que nunca, la irrupci贸n incontrolada y no planificada de la tecnolog铆a LED a nuestras calles est谩 dinamitando el paisaje urbano, la belleza de los cascos hist贸ricos, el h谩bitat natural de muchos seres vivos y el majestuoso cielo estrellado. Es importante se帽alar que las pol铆ticas de ahorro energ茅tico de sustituci贸n de luminarias VSAP por LED han sido un completo fracaso en la mayor铆a de los municipios debido tanto a la calidad de los productos instalados como a la escasa o inexistente realizaci贸n de estudios lum铆nicos pormenorizados que consideraran factores fundamentales como la contaminaci贸n lum铆nica.

Este t茅rmino lleva impl铆cito consecuencias como la luz intrusa, sobre iluminaci贸ndeslumbramiento o aumento de la poluci贸n. Existen multitud de medidas para atenuar estos factores tales como la utilizaci贸n de difusores y 贸pticas adecuadas, reducci贸n de flujo luminoso o automatizaci贸n del alumbrado, pero ya hablaremos m谩s detenidamente sobre este tema tan amplio.

Today more than ever, the uncontrolled and unplanned irruption of LED technology onto our streets is dynamiting the urban landscape, the beauty of historic centers, the natural habitat of many living beings and the majestic starry sky. It is important to point out that the policies of energy saving of replacement of VSAP luminaires by LED have been a complete failure in the majority of the municipalities due to both the quality of the installed products and the scarce or non-existent accomplishment of detailed lighting studies that consider factors fundamental as light pollution.

This term has implicit consequences such as intrusive light, illumination, glare or increased pollution. There are many measures to mitigate these factors such as the use of appropriate diffusers and optics, reduction of luminous flux or lighting automation, but we will talk more about this very broad topic.

Ethan Miller / Getty Images
The stars of the Milky Way.Ray Farmer NBC News

Hoy te propongo que salgas a la calle en plena noche o alces la mirada desde tu ventana al cielo nocturno e intentes encontrar una sola estrella, efectivamente, probablemente lo 煤nico que observar谩s es un cielo te帽ido de color naranja pero ni rastro del astro brillante.

Por suerte, ante esta triste situaci贸n nace es Espa帽a una iniciativa que pretende recuperar, proteger y preservar el cielo estrellado as铆 como aquellas especies que necesitan de oscuridad para su superviviencia. Esta iniciativa tiene nombre propio y se llama Fundaci贸n Star Light y aqu铆 podr谩s consultar con m谩s detalle su filosof铆a y actividades.

Estamos a tiempo, nunca es tarde para mejorar.

Today I propose that you go out into the street in the middle of the night or look up from your window to the night sky and try to find a single star, indeed, probably the only thing you will notice is a sky dyed orange but no sign of the bright star.

Fortunately, faced with this sad situation, Spain is an initiative that seeks to recover, protect and preserve the starry sky as well as those species that need darkness for their survival. This initiative has its own name and is called Star Light Foundation and here you can consult its philosophy and activities in more detail.

We are on time, it is never too late to improve.

*Ricardo Morcillo | Lighting Designer | Architect

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