EASTON, Pa. — Softening Easton's lights at night could tamp down on light pollution and save money, the city’s Environmental Advisory Council heard Tuesday.
The council held a panel about dark sky initiatives.
“Our community is about protecting our health, supporting businesses, reducing costs and keeping its historic charm alive while still ensuring safety and vibrancy after dark,” council Vice Chairwoman Stacy Melvin said.
“When we get lighting right, it makes us feel safer, more welcoming and more connected to its natural beauty and character.”
“Cities really act as torches to draw the birds because the light is brighter than the starlight.”Stephen Quick, an architect, urban designer and professor at Carnegie Mellon University
The panel, focused mainly on Pittsburgh’s dark sky ordinance and its project to upgrade streetlights to LEDs, included Flore Marion, Pittsburgh’s assistant director of sustainability; Stephen Quick, an architect, urban designer and professor at Carnegie Mellon University; and Bill McGeeney, host of Light "Pollution News," a podcast.
Pittsburgh will see cost savings from the switch, panelists said, but there’s also benefits that aren’t as quantifiable: increased perception of public safety and ecological health, especially for migratory birds.
“What they seem to have found, in the readings I've done, is that the birds have always followed migratory patterns by being able to see the stars and the Milky Way,” Quick said.
“And as soon as you have light which is equivalent or even brighter than that, they're used to going toward the light.
“And so, therefore, they're attracted to cities simply because there's more light and there's more sky globe lighting up the sort of a dome over the city of light bouncing off clouds and so on.
“Cities really act as torches to draw the birds because the light is brighter than the starlight.”
‘Brighter, but in the right places’
Pittsburgh officials in early June officially kicked off the city’s LED Streetlight Modernization Project, removing outdated high-pressure sodium, or HPS, lights.
“This project is about more than just new bulbs,” Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said in a news release. “It’s about equity, safety and sustainability.
“We’re investing in every neighborhood — making sure every resident feels safe and seen, no matter where they live.”
The city plans to upgrade more than 35,500 streetlights citywide over the next two years, funded by $3 million from the American Rescue Plan and $12 million in bond financing.
Installation is expected to continue through next year. City officials have launched a website for residents to track progress.
The kick-off came four years after the city’s Division of Sustainability and Resilience announced a new “Dark Sky Lighting” ordinance for all city parks, facilities and streetlights — the first city in Pennsylvania to do so.
City officials estimate they’ll save $800,000 a year at the very least, Marion said, in addition to maintenance costs that will be eliminated.
"Because it's called dark sky, so people sometimes fear it is going to be so dark and they're not going to see what they're doing. It is actually brighter, but in the right places."Flore Marion, Pittsburgh’s assistant director of sustainability
“We'll be tracking utility bill savings,” Marion said. “However, I can already tell you that the light quality is really much better. It is not darker.
“I want to insist on that — because it's called dark sky, so people sometimes fear it is going to be so dark and they're not going to see what they're doing.
"It is actually brighter, but in the right places. So the light is directly to the sidewalk and the street.”
Feedback from residents so far is good, she said, including increased feelings of safety.
“Because the light is closer to sunlight or incandescent, it feels more natural, more real, so the perception is safer," she said. "So it's overall, really, really great feedback from the residents that benefited from the project already.”
Quick said Pittsburgh’s ordinance can act as a good model for other cities.
“They applied the LED lighting code to only city-owned property,” and that includes the streetlights, public parks, playgrounds and so on,” he said.
“And the idea behind it was the city could be a good model for the citizens to understand what good lighting is like and therefore they, on their own private properties, will also follow suit.”
Who owns the streetlights?
Utility provider Met-Ed owns the majority of streetlights in Easton, city sustainability coordinator Brandon Sullivan said. The city owns about 400.
“The other 1,277 are owned by Met-Ed,” Sullivan said. “And those are all currently in the moment of being converted to LED, thanks to a Met-Ed program where they're trying to finish every light upgrade by quarter one of 2026.”
Officials now are organizing streetlights, first in groups of 100 based on location, but now in groups of 50, in an attempt to meet that deadline.
“We are the pilot city for an entire upgrade and retrofit for a city-wide LED program through Met-Ed,” he said.
Easton isn't the only city in the Valley to consider LED-lighting initiatives.
In November 2023, Bethlehem officials touted $13 million in savings over 15 years after buying all streetlights within the city from then-PPL and upgrading to LEDs
An interim climate action goal
Also during the meeting, Sullivan said he will present an interim climate action plan goal to City Council, part of the requirements for participation in CDP, formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project.
“This is something we participated in yearly under the Global Covenant of Mayors, which Mayor [Sal] Panto is part of,” Sullivan said.
“The feedback was only given about a month and a half, two months ago, and our due date for adjusting to that feedback is two weeks from now.”
The city most recently earned an A- from CDP — the highest grade the city has received since officials started reporting in 2018.
“One of the adjustments that was recommended to improve our grade was to pass an internal goal — that’s actually a requirement to move from an A- to an A,” Sullivan said.
While the goal was not discussed, Sullivan said he plans to present it during a city committee meeting Tuesday before the next city council meeting the following day.
