Glow-In-The-Dark Paths

Link

I don't really think this will catch on, but let's assume it does.

Is this good? Bad? It seems to me as if it would be good, considering it would be a soft light... right? Or bad since all the light is basically going up? Opinions?

WOW! That is a really cool idea! I'd love to see that in use instead of street lights in parks!

obin

Great for avoiding doggy deposits

I don't care for the blue spectrum of it - maybe that can be altered - but I sure like how much less light it seems to give off, while still illuminating the pathway. I'd like to know more about it though.

I'm wondering if you could paint this on walls and posts?
It would seem that some folks who fear the dark are still going to want the lamps on all nights.

On the face of it, I would consider this a good idea. It's difficult to tell how bright this luminance is, and how bright a city would be (accumulation).

And is it safe to assume the intensity would drop off overnight? THAT would make it even more attractive as a solution to conventional street lighting.

I guess it would be a nice idea to save money if installation was found to be cost effective. However, I personally do not have a problem with well designed and installed FFCO lighting.

That's a cool article--I'm glad you posted it. It looks like a good idea. It will be interesting to see what kind of cumulative reduction affect it will have on light pollution and that darn city halo. It seems like an idea that can cut done on electricity and light pollution at the same time.

Compared to the lights in my neighborhood its the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I don't care for the blue spectrum of it - maybe that can be altered - but I sure like how much less light it seems to give off, while still illuminating the pathway. I'd like to know more about it though.

I was thinking about that too, but I don't know if the color can actually be changed.

That's a cool article--I'm glad you posted it. It looks like a good idea. It will be interesting to see what kind of cumulative reduction affect it will have on light pollution and that darn city halo. It seems like an idea that can cut done on electricity and light pollution at the same time.

Yeah, I figured that's what it could help with.

It's impossible to say in the abstract; I would have to see it to judge.

I worry about it on numerous counts.

In purely practical terms, I have never seen any fluorescent material that continued to glow many hours after being exposed to light. It seems to me that the path might end up being totally dark by late evening in the winter. Especially in the UK, where the Sun sets around 3 pm in late December. In any case, it seems likely to be too bright in the early evening and too dark in the late evening.

In general, one wants light to shine down, not up. But maybe that's OK in this case, since the path itself is what you need to see most. I wonder how well you would be able to see, for example, a stick that's lying on the path. Would it just be a dark shadow or would you also be able to see how tall it is?

And of course there's the color temperature, as mentioned by many.

I can see that most folks here are not thinking the matter through fully when voicing support for the concept.

In no way would it offer any advantages for those of us in the astronomy community. Rather, it could only markedly add to light pollution. The general public would never accept replacing conventional outdoor lighting with softly glowing path and walkways under any circumstances. Instead, you might more likely see this sort of a coating applied for the purpose of illuminating every residential drive way, etc. IN ADDITION to still having conventional exterior and garden lights, as softly glowing landscape features are in no way any sort of substitute for illumination that will light up an entire property, as most home owners seem to like today.

In addition, all the subtle glow produced by this coat is directed upwards. While the addition of a few hundred yards of coated walkway might not be found unacceptable, should the practice become widely accepted the combined illumination from say thousands of residential driveways in the suburbs could be disastrous for us.

BrooksObs

http://www.ambientglowtechnology.com/

http://static.dudeiw...stones-5010.jpg

$54 a pound!

http://www.ambientglowtechnology.com/

http://static.dudeiw...stones-5010.jpg

$54 a pound!

Thanks Brian
The cost is kind of what I expected. For a city/county to cover a pathway or sidewalk would be prohibitively expensive and it would only last 5 years at the most.
I'd be surprised to see this anywhere other than some private attractions and homes.

http://www.ambientglowtechnology.com/

http://static.dudeiw...stones-5010.jpg

$54 a pound!

Thanks Brian
The cost is kind of what I expected. For a city/county to cover a pathway or sidewalk would be prohibitively expensive ...

I'm sure it doesn't cost $54 per lb. wholesale to a construction company -- not even close!

I'm equally sure that it's expensive enough so that BrooksObs's fear of it's being widely adopted is unfounded. Luminescent chemicals aren't exactly dug out of the ground.

There's a big gap between $54 per lb. and the roughly 10 cents per pound that concrete costs!

http://www.ambientglowtechnology.com/

http://static.dudeiw...stones-5010.jpg

$54 a pound!

Thanks Brian
The cost is kind of what I expected. For a city/county to cover a pathway or sidewalk would be prohibitively expensive and it would only last 5 years at the most.
I'd be surprised to see this anywhere other than some private attractions and homes.

Article says 25 years. Sprayed on, then overcoated with a clear surface film. Don't know about the light emitting duration per night, probably dependent on daytime sun exposure but I would think that a soft blue ground level glow over a large area would be far more acceptable than a bunch of sodium glare lights. Not to mention the power savings eco friendly bit.

I can see that most folks here are not thinking the matter through fully when voicing support for the concept.

In no way would it offer any advantages for those of us in the astronomy community. Rather, it could only markedly add to light pollution. The general public would never accept replacing conventional outdoor lighting with softly glowing path and walkways under any circumstances. Instead, you might more likely see this sort of a coating applied for the purpose of illuminating every residential drive way, etc. IN ADDITION to still having conventional exterior and garden lights, as softly glowing landscape features are in no way any sort of substitute for illumination that will light up an entire property, as most home owners seem to like today.

In addition, all the subtle glow produced by this coat is directed upwards. While the addition of a few hundred yards of coated walkway might not be found unacceptable, should the practice become widely accepted the combined illumination from say thousands of residential driveways in the suburbs could be disastrous for us.

BrooksObs

I suppose one could attach a sponge with something to one's shoes and then walk over that path to reduce LP.

Found this

Guess there is a choice of colors. There isn't any pricing, however. This is also the exact company that did the work shown in the article.

I don't care for the blue spectrum of it - maybe that can be altered - but I sure like how much less light it seems to give off, while still illuminating the pathway. I'd like to know more about it though.

In evaluating the photos of the surface, keep in mind that the longer exposures needed to capture the pictures may tend to exaggerate both tone and brightness. This is probably one of those things you have to see for yourself to know what the actual color tone and intensity are, and how subdued or bold the illumination given off is. Whatever its actual appearance and extent of radiated illumination, it's a near-certain bet it's immensely better than common established alternatives such as electric faux-lamplights or the REALLY awful "acorn" lights which have no shielding whatsoever.

OK, here's a picture of it at night. Please note, the glow in the background is normal street lighting, not daylight.
I suspect the light level emitted by this system is so far below normal night time lighting levels as to be almost irrelevant. Think along the levels of your old glow in the dark watch.

Looks promising. Viewing could be done away from the paths, avoiding park lights.

It'd be nice to have the path to the bathrooms done in this.....