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Spectral G-index

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more effective than manipulating the spectrum of the light. Spectrum does play a role, but in order to prevent disturbance to sensitive animals, changes must be made to the spectrum which cannot be described by the G-index. Those changes are also species dependent. A specific (red-dominant) spectrum has been proven to be as good as darkness for many (but not all) light sensitive insect and bat species. An amber spectrum is proven to be less eco-friendly than a red spectrum for some species, although both have negligible blue content and ‘favorable’ G index. Therefore the use of spectral G-index is overly simplistic and may do more harm than good. The use of the G-index is therefore strongly discouraged for use in lighting specifications or regulations.
90: 267: 350:, and therefore produces more artificial skyglow than an equivalent amount of longer wavelength light. Additionally, both broad spectrum (white) light and short wavelength light tend to have greater overall ecological impacts than narrow band and long wavelength visible light. For this reason, lighting guidelines, recommendations, norms, and 469:
A measure focused solely on reducing blue light will not provide ecological protection. Because the intensity of light plays a role as strong or stronger than spectrum, putting the light in the right places (on road surfaces and sidewalks) and avoiding spillage into ecological regions is likely to be
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of road lighting. Specifically, in areas needing protection for astronomical or ecological reasons, they recommend the use of the G-index instead of CCT in making lighting decisions, because the G-index more accurately quantifies the amount of blue light. In their "core criteria", they recommend that
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The G-index has not been evaluated or adopted by a standards development organization (SDO), such as the CIE. Generally, for a specification to be used in a regulation or tender, it must go through the rigorous process of evaluation and adoption by an SDO. It is thus questionable for the EC Joint
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lamps for street lighting to (mainly) white LEDs has resulted in a shift towards broad spectrum light, with greater short wavelength (blue) emissions. This switch is problematic from the perspective of increased astronomical and ecological light pollution. Short wavelength light is more likely to
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The G-index does not directly measure light pollution, but rather says something about the color of light coming from a lamp. For example, since the equation defining G-index is normalised to total flux, if twice as many lamps are used, the G-index would not change; it is a measure of fractional
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The problem with these approaches is that CCT is not perfectly correlated with blue light emissions. Lamps with identical CCT can have quite different fractional blue light emissions. This is because CCT is based upon comparison to a
703: 1232:, Regional Government of Andalusia (note: Spanish language page; English language handbook on index G, and LibreOffice spreadsheet in English for index computation, are linked from the lower part of the page.) 262:{\displaystyle G=-2.5\mathrm {log} _{10}{\frac {\sum \limits _{\lambda =380\mathrm {nm} }^{500\mathrm {nm} }E(\lambda )}{\sum \limits _{\lambda =380\mathrm {nm} }^{780\mathrm {nm} }E(\lambda )V(\lambda )}}} 834:
Longcore, Travis; RodrĂ­guez, Airam; Witherington, Blair; Penniman, Jay F.; Herf, Lorna; Herf, Michael (October 2018). "Rapid assessment of lamp spectrum to quantify ecological effects of light at night".
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light, not total light. Similarly, the definition of G-index does not include the direction in which light shines, so it is not directly related to skyglow, which depends strongly on direction.
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Lamps with very different color temperatures will usually also have different G-indexes. Lamps with higher color temperatures have more blue light, and will therefore usually have lower G-index.
438:, they suggest that CCT≀3000 K is likely to satisfy this criterion. In the stricter "comprehensive criteria", they recommend that parks and ecologically sensitive areas or areas at specified 453:. Depending on the "environmental zone", the regulation requires lighting to have a G value above 2, 1.5, or 1. In areas where astronomical activities are ongoing, it is expected that only 325:
to allow calculation of the G-index for any lamp for which the spectral power distribution is known, and it can also be calculated in the "Astrocalc" software or the f.luxometer web app.
317:), the G-index would in principle be undefined. In practice, such lamps would be reported as having G greater than some value, due to the limits of measurement precision. The 446:
astronomy observatories have a G-index greater than or equal to 2.0. Again, in this case if calculating the G-index is not possible, CCT≀2700 K is suggested.
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and areas considered by the procurer to be ecologically sensitive, the G-index shall be ≄1.5". In the case that G-index could for some reason not be
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GaladĂ­-EnrĂ­quez, D. (February 2018). "Beyond CCT: The spectral index system as a tool for the objective, quantitative characterization of lamps".
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Donatello, Shane; RodrĂ­guez Quintero, RocĂ­o; Gama Caldas, Miguel; Wolf, Oliver; Van Tichelen, Paul; Van Hoof, Veronique; Geerken, Theo (2019).
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Research Center and the Andalusian Regional Government (and others) to suggest or prescribe mandatory requirements based on the G-index.
1039:"Response of bats to light with different spectra: light-shy and agile bat presence is affected by white and green, but not red light" 980:"Evaluating Potential Spectral Impacts of Various Artificial Lights on Melatonin Suppression, Photosynthesis, and Star Visibility" 1037:
Spoelstra, K; van Grunsven, RHA; Ramakers, JJC; Ferguson, KB; Raap, T; Donners, M, Veenendaal, EM and ME Visser (31 May 2017).
919:"ArrĂȘtĂ© du 27 dĂ©cembre 2018 relatif Ă  la prĂ©vention, Ă  la rĂ©duction et Ă  la limitation des nuisances lumineuses | Legifrance" 1100:
Donners, M; van Grunsven, RHA; Groenendijk, D; van Langevelde, F; Bikker JW; Longcore, T; and E Veenendaal (26 June 2018).
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or quasi-monochromatic lamps will be used, with G>3.5 and in principle only emissions in the interval 585-605 nm.
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The G-index is planned to be used by the Regional Government of Andalusia, specifically for the purpose of protecting the
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Kinzey, Bruce; Perrin, Tess; Miller, Naomi; Kocifaj, Miroslav; Aubé, Martin; Solano Lamphar, Héctor (2017).
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for the purchase of outdoor lamps and in lighting regulations as an improved alternative to the CCT metric.
289: 58: 896: 66: 422: 704:"Why artificial light at night should be a focus for global change research in the 21st century" 98: 78: 1206: 1151: 1080: 418: 38: 1170: 812:
Artificial Night Lighting and Protected Lands / Ecological Effects and Management Approaches
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Revision of the EU Green Public Procurement Criteria for Road Lighting and traffic signals
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light a lamp emits relative to its total output. It is used in order to select outdoor
655:"Physical behaviour of anthropogenic light propagation into the nocturnal environment" 309:
The sums are to be taken using a step size of 1 nm. For lamps with absolutely no
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relative to its visible emission (it is a measure of the amount of blue light per
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Aubé, Martin; Roby, Johanne; Kocifaj, Miroslav; Yamazaki, Shin (5 July 2013).
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such as high pressure sodium. The G-index was therefore developed for use in
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Variable to quantify the short wavelength light in a visible light source
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restricts CCT to maximum 3000 K in most areas, and 2400 K or 2700 K in
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Luginbuhl, Christian B.; Boley, Paul A.; Davis, Donald R. (May 2014).
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Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
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Straka, TM; Greif, S; Schultz, S; Goerlitz, HR; and CC Voigt (2020).
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Information on Green Public Procurement of Street Lighting in the EU
770:"The impact of light source spectral power distribution on sky glow" 539: 439: 354:
frequently place limits on blue light emissions. For example, the "
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More information, including a spreadsheet for calculating G-index
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is a variable that was developed to quantify the amount of short
20: 1102:"Colors of attraction: Modeling insect flight to light behavior" 443: 371: 367: 749:(Technical report). Pacific Northwest National Lab. PNNL-26411 427: 34: 809:
Longcore, Travis; Rich, Catherine; DelBusso, Leigha (2016).
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An Investigation of LED Street Lighting's Impact on Sky Glow
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Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer
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Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer
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below 500 nm (e.g. Low Pressure Sodium or PC Amber
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incorporated the G-index into their guidelines for the
110: 808: 767: 702:Davies, Thomas W.; Smyth, Tim (10 November 2017). 604:"LICA AstroCalc - Comparador de filtros y cĂĄmaras" 493: 261: 1244:, Online calculator for g-index and other indexes 1255: 815:(Technical report). NPS/NRSS/NSNS/NRR--2016/1213 394:light source, which is a poor approximation for 524: 337:The ongoing global switch from (mainly) orange 827: 1211:: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( 1156:: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( 1085:: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( 701: 645: 643: 460: 945: 943: 941: 939: 911: 1188: 1173:"The effect of cave illumination on bats" 1125: 1062: 1013: 1003: 971: 864: 793: 719: 678: 538: 97:The G-index is grounded in the system of 69:. The G-index was originally proposed by 802: 761: 640: 88: 936: 889: 1256: 837:Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A 489: 487: 485: 483: 695: 520: 518: 45:). The smaller the G-index, the more 899:. International Dark-Sky Association 649: 736: 480: 196: 145: 13: 515: 360:International Dark-Sky Association 226: 223: 213: 210: 175: 172: 162: 159: 131: 128: 125: 14: 1285: 1223: 358:seal of approval" program of the 19:For the author-level metric, see 319:Regional Government of Andalusia 282:is the wavelength in nanometers; 1177:Global Ecology and Conservation 1164: 1093: 1030: 620: 596: 571: 253: 247: 241: 235: 190: 184: 1: 473: 101:, and is defined as follows: 84: 1005:10.1371/journal.pone.0067798 364:correlated color temperature 332: 7: 1190:10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00808 795:10.1016/j.jqsrt.2013.12.004 557:10.1016/j.jqsrt.2017.12.011 494:Junte de Andalucia (2018). 290:spectral power distribution 10: 1290: 897:"Fixture Seal of Approval" 276:G is the spectral G-index; 67:ecological light pollution 18: 461:Questionable Use Warning 423:Green Public Procurement 362:limits lights to have a 1238:, Joint Research Centre 583:www.juntadeandalucia.es 99:astronomical photometry 1055:10.1098/rspb.2017.0075 923:www.legifrance.gouv.fr 671:10.1098/rstb.2014.0117 409: 263: 231: 180: 94: 79:Calar Alto Observatory 708:Global Change Biology 585:(in European Spanish) 419:Joint Research Centre 416:European Commission's 400:vapor discharge lamps 370:, while the national 264: 195: 144: 92: 71:David GaladĂ­ EnrĂ­quez 1242:f.luxometer web tool 579:"Índice espectral G" 339:high pressure sodium 108: 39:visible light source 1118:2018JEZA..329..434D 996:2013PLoSO...867798A 849:2018JEZA..329..511L 786:2014JQSRT.139...21L 549:2018JQSRT.206..399G 304:luminosity function 1248:Astrocalc software 665:(1667): 20140117. 503:(Technical report) 497:Índice espectral G 259: 95: 721:10.1111/gcb.13927 653:(16 March 2015). 366:(CCT) below 3000 257: 1281: 1217: 1216: 1210: 1202: 1192: 1168: 1162: 1161: 1155: 1147: 1129: 1127:10.1002/jez.2188 1112:(8–9): 434–440. 1097: 1091: 1090: 1084: 1076: 1066: 1034: 1028: 1027: 1017: 1007: 975: 969: 968: 966: 964: 958: 947: 934: 933: 931: 929: 915: 909: 908: 906: 904: 893: 887: 886: 868: 857:10.1002/jez.2184 843:(8–9): 511–521. 831: 825: 824: 822: 820: 806: 800: 799: 797: 765: 759: 758: 756: 754: 740: 734: 733: 723: 699: 693: 692: 682: 647: 638: 637: 635: 634: 624: 618: 617: 615: 614: 600: 594: 593: 591: 590: 575: 569: 568: 542: 522: 513: 512: 510: 508: 502: 491: 374:light pollution 321:has developed a 268: 266: 265: 260: 258: 256: 230: 229: 217: 216: 193: 179: 178: 166: 165: 142: 140: 139: 134: 28:spectral G-Index 1289: 1288: 1284: 1283: 1282: 1280: 1279: 1278: 1254: 1253: 1226: 1221: 1220: 1204: 1203: 1169: 1165: 1149: 1148: 1098: 1094: 1078: 1077: 1043:Proc. R. Soc. 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Index

g-index
wavelength
light
visible light source
lumen
blue
violet
ultraviolet
lamps
skyglow
ecological light pollution
David GaladĂ­ EnrĂ­quez
astrophysicist
Calar Alto Observatory
Different colored "white" lamps
astronomical photometry
spectral power distribution
luminosity function
emissions
LED
Regional Government of Andalusia
spreadsheet
high pressure sodium
scatter
atmosphere
legislation
fixture
International Dark-Sky Association
correlated color temperature
K

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