Concord, a city located in New Hampshire, U.S. is planning to install LED streetlights that are more friendly on the eyes of pedestrians, reported Concord Monitor.
The city is choosing warmer color LED streetlights that fall in the 3,000 Kelvin range rather than the cool colored 4,000 Kelvin.
“We looked at LEDs for the obvious energy-saving opportunities, but one of the things that was important to use was its dark-sky compliance,” said Ed Roberge, Concord city engineer.
The city is aiming to reduce the impact from light pollution, so stargazers can still observe celestial bodies in the night sky, such as stars and planets in the Milky Way.
The groups are alarmed about LED outdoor lighting because it is more energy efficient and has longer lifetime, but the LEDs color temperature is about 4,000 Kelvin, which largely impacts our night vision.
The brighter lights illuminate roads better, but also create greater disturbance of the night sky. Warmer LED temperatures are less intrusive to sky-watching.
The 3000K LED bulbs have a softer light that blends in with the historic downtown, and has been used in streetlight upgrades in Panacook a few years ago.