General Discussion

hunter

(40,517 posts)

43. It wasn't long ago that all the streetlights in San Jose, CA, were low pressure sodium orange.

Mon Feb 9, 2026, 03:35 PM

Feb 9

It was to protect astronomy at Lick Observatory on nearby Mt. Hamilton. This narrow spectra light, at 589.0 and 589.6 nm, was easy to filter out. It was probably better for insects and wildlife too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium-vapor_lamp#Low-pressure_sodium

With the explosive population growth of Silicon Valley and the advent of LED lighting this became a loosing battle. San Jose converted all it's street lighting to lower operating cost white LEDs in 2023.

Her in the U.S.A. I've seen red exterior lights installed on coastal developments but I don't think it's mandatory in most places.

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Highlight:

Denmark Just Switched to Red Streetlights, Solving a Problem Every Modern City Deals With [View all] orangecrush Feb 9 OP

In the meantime, Diamond_Dog Feb 9 #1

Led by these church-going weirdos and the 6 piles of shit on the SC wolfie001 Feb 9 #31

What is that? EndlessMaze Feb 9 #47

What is what? wolfie001 Feb 9 #49

Actually, they want to take us back 165 years. cstanleytech Feb 10 #50

Wait til Trump hears about this newdeal2 Feb 9 #2

I hope he doesn't hear about it orangecrush Feb 9 #8

LOL, Good one..."Commie red lights" Escurumbele Feb 9 #23

When the GOP hear about this.... Old Crank Feb 9 #3

"LED LIGHTS?!?!?" durablend Feb 9 #5

VERY white. orangecrush Feb 9 #9

Just like they fought to keep incandescent light bulbs Seinan Sensei Feb 9 #37

Exacto. orangecrush Feb 10 #56

Yes -- as the Republican Georgia state legislature did Pinback Feb 9 #39

One of the worst inventions EVER. Converts non-renewable fossils into greenhouse gas and noise pollution, all to ... eppur_se_muova Feb 9 #46

Yes, gas powered leaf blowers do pollute, they are noisy, but they do a really good job of cleaning things up. Botany Feb 10 #53

I have a greater need to burn calories than to get the job done in a hurry -- or thoroughly. nt eppur_se_muova Feb 10 #57

Yup lonely bird Feb 10 #55

Yeah? Yeah? Well we're gonna spend $100 million to change the stationary to "Department of War" Prairie Gates Feb 9 #4

I was very surprised by this: markodochartaigh Feb 9 #6

Me too orangecrush Feb 9 #11

One possibility is that the lights attract insects at night Disaffected Feb 9 #30

Bats find bright lights very confusing. They use echolocation to "see" prey Maru Kitteh Feb 9 #35

Does this mean that there will be "Red Light Districts" everywhere? n/t marked50 Feb 9 #7

Gladsaxe, indeed. Harker Feb 9 #10

Knew that was coming... orangecrush Feb 9 #12

"THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" durablend Feb 9 #29

I live in NYC, the only wildlife we have here are SocialDemocrat61 Feb 9 #13

You have wild pizza? Here, we have to buy it. JustABozoOnThisBus Feb 9 #45

Sounds like a great idea. StarryNite Feb 9 #14

For city traffic orangecrush Feb 9 #15

Red lights are standard for ship lights after sunset, especially haele Feb 9 #18

Thanks orangecrush Feb 9 #20

Interesting. StarryNite Feb 9 #19

Thanks! orangecrush Feb 9 #21

Whereever I can, I replace bulbs with tunable LEDs. I mainly aim for around 2700K (warm) erronis Feb 9 #16

We actually have such things here, with the Dark Skies Communities, niyad Feb 9 #17

Thanks orangecrush Feb 9 #22

check out their website and their work niyad Feb 9 #33

Will do! orangecrush Feb 9 #41

After 30 years in the Navy maxrandb Feb 9 #24

Every data center needs to convert to this. Envirogal Feb 9 #25

Or.....one could think Denmark has gone to battle stations. paleotn Feb 9 #26

Good one orangecrush Feb 9 #27

I was a tanker on the M1-Abrams-series tanks. Aristus Feb 9 #28

Ships I served on also had red interior lights Kaleva Feb 9 #42

Cool....lighting is getting obnoxious purr-rat beauty Feb 9 #32

Even something like making sure lights are facing down, not up, niyad Feb 9 #34

Birds and moths Cirsium Feb 9 #36

The problems wth artifical light Cirsium Feb 9 #38

Fantastic orangecrush Feb 9 #40

It wasn't long ago that all the streetlights in San Jose, CA, were low pressure sodium orange. hunter Feb 9 #43

At least the orange weren't as bad orangecrush Feb 9 #44

i hope it helps. i saw very few critters when i was there. black/white crows + a few english sparrows. pansypoo53219 Feb 9 #48

Roxanne... CentralMass Feb 10 #51

"you don't have to turn on the red light" orangecrush Feb 10 #54

Wouldn't work in San Diego. It sucks!!! BigmanPigman Feb 10 #52