2024-07-27 01:35:25
MERANO. Fight against light pollution: what has been done is not enough, the Municipality wants to be more incisive. Thus a collaboration with Planetarium Alto Adige. The issue of safety, or its perception, remains in the background when reducing lighting in the city.
The progressive installation of LEDs in street lamps public, a process that has been underway for years with the commitment of the ASM and municipal funds, in addition to allowing savings has allowed a reduction – through regulation systems – of light pollution. True? And by how much? Impossible to say, without concrete surveys. Without data based on scientific surveys with the use of technology. Going up to Tirolo or Marlengo during the hours of darkness to observe in person can be useful, but a quick glance is not enough. And this is where sensors come into play, and the “smart city”. The intelligent city, that is to say the path that Merano has undertaken for some time.
La partnership
As part of a project carried out by the Planetarium Alto Adige and supported by the Green and Environment Management Service of the Municipality of Meranowas installed a few days ago, on the tower of Town Hall on Via Porticia sensor that can measure the level of light pollution above the historic city center. Light pollution is the term used to describe the unwanted effects of artificial lighting outdoors, that is, light that has unwanted effects in terms of space, time, or intensity beyond the pure purpose of illumination.
“This is a phenomenon that is perhaps less known to most people than other forms of environmental pollution (of soil, water and air) that are a cause for concern for the quality of life”, the administration explains. However, polluting light emissions – in addition to depriving people of the possibility of admiring the starry sky at night – also have unwanted effects: on the health of human beings, because they modify circadian rhythms, influencing the sleep-wake rhythm, and on natural ecosystems, because they disturb both animals and plants in their natural (day/night) and seasonal cycles.
Awareness
The deputy mayor and environmental councillor explains Katharina Zeller: «This is a problem that the municipal administration and the Municipal Services Company, which is responsible for managing the public lighting system, are fully aware of, so much so that appropriate measures to limit this phenomenon have already been adopted as part of the program to convert public lighting points to LED. In order to have scientifically validated information that will allow us to plan other, more complex interventions to limit this type of pollution, monitoring activities have also been strengthened in the meantime: to more precisely measure the level of polluting light emissions in the city center, a special sensor was recently installed on top of the tower of the town hall».
South Tyrol lights up
The initiative is part of the research project “South Tyrol lights up: measurement, analysis and characterization of light pollution in urban areas”, carried out by the Planetarium Alto Adige and supported by the Green Management and Environment Service of the Municipality of Merano. The project, which involves Merano and Brunico and is financed by the research fund of the Provincial Museums Company, involves the astrophysicist and Planetarium collaborator Sabrina Bernhard and the astrophysicist and director of the South Tyrol Museum of Natural History David Gruber.
And private
The aim is to verify, in the two selected cities, what is the share of public lighting in relation to total light pollution. In addition, a study will be conducted to discover which private light sources are responsible for the non-public share of total light pollution in the two urban centers. The measurements will continue until the end of 2025.
2024-07-27 01:35:25