Overview
- Ann Arbor’s plans to replace its streetlights with 58-watt LED bulbs as part of its broader A2Zero Climate Action Plan, which aims to reduce the city's carbon footprint and transition to renewable energy by 2030. Supported by a grant aimed at carbon reduction, the project is intended to improve energy efficiency by lowering operating costs and reducing the city's reliance on older, less sustainable lighting technology.
- Despite the environmental benefits, residents have raised concerns about the brightness of these new LEDs, particularly in residential areas. Many feel that the lights are too intense, leading to excessive light spillover into homes, disrupting sleep, and affecting local wildlife. These concerns highlight a growing tension between energy efficiency and the impact of artificial lighting on both human residents and nocturnal animals, such as insects.
- Ann Arbor's LED streetlight conversion project is funded by a grant from the Carbon Reduction Program and awarded by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), which contributed approximately $980,000. Additionally, the city allocated $270,000 from its climate-action millage funds to support the remaining costs.
- To address public concerns, the city tested different wattage and color temperature combinations, such as 29W and 58W lights, with color temperatures ranging from 2700K to 3000K. Public feedback showed a clear preference for warmer light temperatures (around 2700K) that reduce the harshness and glare associated with brighter, cooler lights.
- In an August 2024 Ann Arbor City Council meeting, DTE addressed the city's request for warmer LED streetlights. They acknowledged that their standard LED lights, which are generally cooler and brighter, differ from the city’s preference for warmer, 2700K LEDs, which better align with Ann Arbor’s sustainability goals. DTE noted that providing these warmer lights would require a special order, which introduces logistical challenges, such as stocking and maintaining these custom lights over time, and they aren’t willing to do that.
- Additionally, DTE indicated that they will go ahead with their plan to replace existing high-pressure sodium lights with their standard, cooler LEDs, which are less in line with the city’s efforts to reduce light pollution. Rather than go with lower wattage LED’s--which DTE says are a safety and logistical no-go--DTE is planning to use shields on the LED streetlights in Ann Arbor. The shields direct the light downward and are supposed to reduce the amount of light that spills into homes and other areas where it is not needed.
- Dharma Akmon, Ann Arbor City Council, Ward 4, addressed the concerns raised by residents, particularly related to the brightness of the 58-watt LEDs. Many residents, especially those advocating for "dark sky" principles, were concerned that these lights are too bright for local streets and could contribute to increased light pollution.
- Akmon emphasized that while the city had negotiated for warmer, 2700K lights to mitigate these effects, DTE’s standard LEDs typically come with higher color temperatures, making it difficult to find an ideal solution without increasing costs. She also mentioned that maintaining different wattages for different areas—58W for arterial roads and 29W for residential streets—poses logistical challenges for the city.
Transcription
David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU on a Wednesday. And I'm David Fair. You may have noticed it has become somewhat brighter in Ann Arbor. By that, I mean there are some residents concerned that new LED lighting in the city is causing more light pollution. Weighing the impacts of that against increased energy efficiency as Ann Arbor works to achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2030--it's an ongoing topic of discussion and potential action plans. And it's the focus of this week's edition of WEMU's Issues of the Environment. Our guest today is in the middle of the conversations. Dharma Akmon is a Fourth Ward representative on Ann Arbor City Council. And thank you so much for carving out time today! I appreciate it!
Dharma Akmon: Yeah! Thanks so much for having me!
David Fair: Well, when the A2Zero plan was adopted and I began reading through it, I realized just how complex the plan would be and how difficult it would be to bring to fruition. I figured lighting would be one of the easier components. But nothing's easy, is it?
Dharma Akmon: No, it isn't.
David Fair: Well, the city has a $980,000 grant from the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments to make the full transition to LED lighting. The city is putting in $270,000 from the voter-approved Climate Action Millage. Now, the grant money comes with some requirements and timelines, does it not?
Dharma Akmon: Yes. The money had to be obligated by the end of September. And so, we had to get that award approved by council in pretty quick order.
David Fair: So, early this year, there was some testing done to gather public input on what the lighting should be and what it should look like. Now, there can never be consensus, but the majority opinion seemed to be in favor of lower wattage and warmer lighting texture. Did you come to any kind of personal opinion on the matter?
Dharma Akmon: Yeah, it was interesting. I visited the site a couple of times where you can kind of see three different lights, and you could really tell what the cooler temperature or the sense of glare and overbrightness. And contrary to what you might think, instead of better illuminations, it's actually worse illumination, because the glare impacts your ability to see even at a crosswalk. So, the temperature was, in particular, very noticeable.
David Fair: So, brighter lights, in theory, would create a greater sense of safety and security. Are you saying that, in your observation, that wasn't necessarily the case?
Dharma Akmon: Yeah, both in my observation and basically what dark sky principles tell us is that it's actually a misnomer to think that the brighter the light, the more effective it is at lighting. And you can see really good comparisons. I mean, I saw this in the field that actually the glare reduces your ability to see in many cases.
David Fair: Issues of the Environment and our conversation with Ann Arbor City Council member Dharma Akmon continues on 89 one WEMU. As you mentioned, it creates glare--creates road glare--that can hamper driving. It makes its way into households and can disrupt sleep among residents. And as I understand it, it can have adverse impacts on area wildlife and insects. As a member of City Council, how do you weigh those factors as you move forward in trying to determine what will best serve carbon neutrality goals and safety and efficiency?
Dharma Akmon: Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head. There are so many things to hang in the balance. There's the energy efficiency, which is obviously a primary component of our A2Zero plan. There's also quality of life, and there's also the health of our natural environment--insects, birds, other nocturnal wildlife--that are impacted by light that's overbright. You know, I do think that a lot of these can be balanced, and they will be achieved in what we have planned. So, light shielding--that's going to keep the light from going upward. Energy savings--we are definitely getting that. And the color temperature is a big win in terms of dark sky principles. The light that we're installing is far warmer than the standard light from DTE. So, there are a number of things that are being delivered. You know, people are very concerned about quality of life. And I understand that these streetlights are everywhere. They're ubiquitous. Oftentimes, people have one in front of their homes. And understandably, people do not want them over illuminating inside of their houses and creating a poor sleep environment. So, I think that some folks would have liked dimmer lights on the residential streets. They are going to be somewhat dimmer than on more major thoroughfares, not as dim as perhaps people were calling for, but I think as dim as we were able to get them working on DTE's own streetlights.
David Fair: It's interesting. On two separate occasions now, you've brought up the term "dark sky principles." When you're in an urban setting, how do you make that work?
Dharma Akmon: Yeah. Well, dark sky principles are really about having the right light in the right place. You know, unfortunately, the term "dark sky," I think it makes it sound like we don't think that there should be light in a city. That's absolutely not the case. So, that would not be safe and doesn't make sense. But what we don't want is light shining where it shouldn't go. So often, on a standard light installation, light is, for example, shining above the horizontal plane. That's not where we need the light. We need the light below. And so, things like shielding, which is a dark sky approach, directs the light where it needs to go. Similarly, there's no point in overall illuminating. We want light directed in certain places, not just scattered all over the place. And so, I think that that's also another aspect of this as well as, again, the color temperature. We know that these blue color temperatures are very bad for both human health, as well as wildlife. And so, by simply having a better, more orange, warmer tone of light, it's just better all around, quite frankly, for both humans and wildlife.
David Fair: Is there an additional cost associated with using the kind of lighting the city desires, as opposed to what was perhaps originally planned by DTE?
Dharma Akmon: Yes. I mean, DTE is switching to LSD as part of their standards. They're going to do it slowly as they replace lights as they get burnt out. And, yes, there is extra cost. Luckily, the grant is defraying that cost for us. Because this is not a standard DTE offering, the city has to stock extra of these lights, which is part of the reason why we couldn't do two different wattage installations because the burden was placed on the city to stack those lights because DTE does not offer it by standard.
David Fair: And that's where those light shields come into play that you have mentioned. Is it going to be sufficient, in your estimation, to please the residents that are concerned about being affected?
Dharma Akmon: I think so. I certainly hope so. You know, we have seen LED installations. If you look in other cities, we've seen it go terribly wrong. I think often a big part of that is the color temperature and too high of a wattage. So, I do think that we have some wins. And I think with the shielding that the light is going to be much more directed. And I think, again, that the temperature is going to help a lot with the glare that people are complaining about. I mean, people are already experiencing DTE replacing these lightbulbs as, again, there's burnout. And what they're replacing with is pretty terrible. One was replaced in front of my house. And people liken it to institutional or prison lighting. It's not a good experience. And, yes, I think this is going to be a far better experience.
David Fair: Once again, this is 89 one WEMU, and we're talking with Fourth Ward Ann Arbor City Council member Dharma Akmon on Issues of the Environment. So, the question is, where do we go from here? And, more specifically, what is next? What is the next step?
Dharma Akmon: The next step is the installation of these lights, which is supposed to happen beginning this fall and winter and be completed in 2025. As I said, some of these lights are dimmable, so some of them on the local streets--or most of them or the local streets--will be of a lower wattage. And what I really hope to see in the future is that DTE takes a lesson from this and starts applying some of what we're doing in Ann Arbor as a more standard offering across southeast Michigan.
David Fair: When do you expect the full transition will be made? You said early to mid-next year?
Dharma Akmon: Yeah. 2025.
David Fair: And when will you be able to get an evaluation of actual energy efficiency versus light pollution?
Dharma Akmon: That's a good question. I mean, I think in terms of energy savings, we pretty much have calculated that out. It's going to be over 1,000,000kg per year of CO2 saved and about $300,000 annually of money saved. As far as people's satisfaction with these lights, I expect to hear pretty quickly. I don't think I've gotten more emails about an issue since I've been on council.
David Fair: In conclusion, as we wrap up our time today, this is, again, a small component of what is a massive A2Zero plan. When you get to full efficiencies, how much closer are we going to be to achieving carbon neutrality?
Dharma Akmon: Well, I think this is a big step. Lighting accounts for a really big portion of our energy usage--something like 15%. And this is over 4000 lights in the city that are being changed over. So, I think that's a significant aspect of meeting our goals and doing it in short order and on a much quicker timeline than we had planned, which is 2029.
David Fair: Well, I thank you so much for the conversation and updating us today, and we'll look forward to what is to come!
Dharma Akmon: Thank you so much!
David Fair: That is Fourth Ward Ann Arbor City Council member Dharma Akmon. She's been our guest on Issues of the Environment. And if you'd like more information on today's topic in conversation, all you have to do is stop by our website at wemu.org. When you get a minute, we'll get you all linked up everywhere you need to go. Issues of the Environment is produced in partnership with the office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner, and you hear it every Wednesday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM Ypsilanti.
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