Amber LED coastal lights reduce sea turtle deaths

June 7, 2013

Satellite Beach, FL--Lighting Science released its outdoor Coastal Light with amber-colored LEDs to improve survivability of sea turtle hatchlings and other wildlife that are sensitive or threatened by artificial white coastal light.

Gail Overton

Amber LED lights placed in coastal locations do not distract or draw sea turtle hatchlings and other wildlife towards populated, white-light-illuminated areas so that the animals are more likely to enter the sea safely, reducing sea turtle deaths.

Satellite Beach, FL--Lighting solutions company Lighting Science Group Corporation released its outdoor Coastal Light, designed with amber-colored light-emitting diodes (LEDs) (http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/2010/01/light-illumination-innovation-in-leds-has-plenty-of-runway-to-go.html) to improve survivability of sea turtle hatchlings and other wildlife that are sensitive or threatened by artificial coastal light that is not from a natural nighttime source. Studies show that turtle eye receptors are most disrupted by wavelengths in the ultraviolet, blue, or green spectrum found in typical white lighting. This bright, disruptive beach illumination--which can attract and disorient wildlife and disrupt its natural behavior--is eliminated with amber-colored LED illumination (http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/2012/09/pnnl-says-led-lamps-the-most-environmentally-friendly-form-of-lighting.html).

"Sea turtles and other wildlife are endangered by traditional white lighting at homes and businesses in coastal regions," said Jeremy Cage, CEO of Lighting Science. "The Coastal Light from our Nature Collection offers flexibility in design and installation but it doesn't attract the turtles and prevents the unnecessary loss of wildlife."

Properties located in coastal areas are often required by law to comply with light pollution (http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/2008/09/software-optimizes-illumination-design-while-minimizing-light-pollution.html) standards for the protection of wildlife, especially sea turtle hatchlings. Each year, nearly 20,000 hatchlings are disoriented by beachfront lighting and most do not make it from the surf into the ocean.

The Coastal Light is available in a variety of configurations and mountings from the traditional Roadmaster exterior fixture to the modern Prolific pole mount to replacement lamps. These luminaires offer optional full cutoff shielding attachable in the field without tools. The Coastal Light meets Florida Wildlife Conservation standards and International Dark Sky Association requirements. Proven installations along the Florida coast have shown that the Coastal Light solution is achieving its conservation mission.

Lighting Science says they are committed to UNLEASH THE SCIENCE OF LIGHT TO MAKE PEOPLE AND OUR PLANET LOOK, FEEL AND HEAL BETTER with award-winning, innovative LED lamps and lighting fixtures.

SOURCE: Lighting Science; http://investor.lsgc.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=188602&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1826855&highlight=

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.