New Lighting Regulation: Authorities Highlight the Importance of Prevention and Citizen Collaboration

In a seminar led by the Minister of the Environment, Maisa Rojas, authorities and experts addressed the details and challenges of updating the lighting standard, which will be enforced nationwide.

“The New Lighting Standard is good news and an opportunity to share that pollution is not only air or water pollution, but also, as a result of human activities, there is pollution of other aspects of nature: one of those is the night sky,” stated the Minister of the Environment, Maisa Rojas, during the launch seminar of this regulation. At the meeting, authorities, academics, civil society representatives, and astronomers discussed the details and challenges involved in implementing the regulation.

Although light pollution has been studied worldwide since the 1970s, in Chile, it was only in the 1990s that this pollutant and its effects began to be discussed. In 1996, the astronomical community provided the technical and legal background that allowed the creation of the first lighting regulation in Chile. While the initial regulations focused on protecting dark skies for astronomy, this third update—which came into effect on October 19 of this year—extends the regulations to the entire national territory and seeks to protect not only astronomical observation but also biodiversity and human health.

The 5 Key Requirements of the New Lighting Standard

According to the Ministry of the Environment (MMA), the most relevant background for updating the regulation is that light pollution has increased in recent years, mainly due to the emission of light with a high blue content—or cold light—due to the proliferation of LED technology.

For this reason, one of the main requirements of the new regulation will be the limitation of the blue component in outdoor lighting. “With the regulation, we are reducing the blue light content in luminaires, so from cities mostly with white lights, we will see warmer cities,” explained Jessica Salas, a professional from the MMA’s Noise, Lighting, and Odors Department.

Additionally, the Lighting Standard will require that luminaires be directed towards the ground to avoid light waste towards the sky, reduce over-illumination, decrease brightness in advertising screens, and restrict certain public lighting between midnight and seven in the morning.

The Preventive Approach and the Challenge of SMA Supervision

The Superintendence of the Environment (SMA) will be responsible for supervising compliance with the Lighting Standard. According to Marie Claude Plumer, Superintendent of the Environment, this will be one of the greatest challenges of the regulation, due to its national scope and the inclusion of new light sources, such as advertising signs. “The coverage is not only territorial but also the number of sources constitutes a challenge for supervision. We know that supervising 100% of the lighting is not realistic, so collaboration through citizen reporting will be important,” she emphasized.

Furthermore, the Superintendent of the Environment highlighted the preventive nature of the standard. “There is early control, non-compliance is not awaited,” she stated. This will be achieved through certification by testing laboratories of luminaires before their commercialization and the supervision of the Superintendence of Electricity and Fuels of the businesses that distribute the products established in the standard.

The Role of Civil Society and Citizens

“We have to understand the Lighting Standard as a starting point, not the end of a path,” stated Daniela González, Executive Director of the Fundación Cielos de Chile, in the expert panel that closed the seminar. Alongside her, Charif Tala, Head of the Species Conservation Department of the MMA; Iván Kopaitic, Head of the Photometry and Quality Control Laboratory of the PUCV; and Ximena Muñoz, President of the Association of Lighting Professionals in Chile (API), participated.

Daniela González highlighted that one of the main challenges is the public’s lack of awareness about light pollution and the regulation. “What we have seen, in our approach to the public, has been a lack of awareness regarding what this standard means and even what light pollution is,” she noted.

In response to this, she emphasized the need to develop dissemination strategies for different audiences, from citizens to key stakeholders, to raise awareness about the problem and its effects. “Part of our work is to review the projects that enter the Environmental Assessment Service, and we have seen in those projects that are in astronomical communes a profound lack of knowledge about how to present their projects in lighting terms,” she concluded.