As part of a recent lighting project, Thorn Lighting collaborated with Cumbria County Council to install dark sky-friendly lighting at sites across the county, including Glenridding, Kendal, Ambleside, Whitehaven, Alston, Warcop, Dent and Workington. The reason? Protecting dark skies and local wildlife, improving people’s perception of safety, encouraging social interaction, and increasing energy efficiency.
After successful pilot schemes, dark sky-friendly luminaires, including Thorn’s EP 145 and Plurio lanterns with NightTune Technology (both recipients of the International Dark-Sky Association’s Fixture Seal of Approval), were installed.
The NightTune technology automatically adjusts the level of light emitted by the light fitting and the colour temperature to suit the time of night.
It wasn’t just the council and residents that realised the scheme’s benefits. This year the results were recognised by judges in both the Build Back Better and IDA (International Dark-Skies Association) 2022 Awards.
The project was awarded a Green rating in the Lighting Category of BBB and as a result of this solution and other dark sky initiatives and projects – Thorn Lighting has been recognised by the International Dark-Sky Association and been named winner of this year’s Lighting Design and Technical Innovation Award.”
Ray
Molony, Head of Content at the Build Back Better Awards, said:
‘…This is a superb achievement – many congratulations!… Your support for the aims and values of the programme – innovation, creativity, social value and environmental leadership – is vital to us in our work in promoting and celebrating achievement in these areas, and we thank you sincerely for your participation. Your entry formed a valuable contribution to creating a landscape of the current best practice in the sector.’
Thanks to this success provided by Thorn Lighting, Cumbria County Council has now extended the number of pilot sites and is formulating policy and guidance to ensure new lighting installations and housing developments use adaptive lighting technology and warmer colour temperatures.
