By Light Bureau
Gladsaxe Kommune is a municipality near Copenhagen in Denmark where Light Bureau is working to upgrade all the streetlights to LED along Frederiksborgvej near Skovbrynet.
Light, Nature, and Humans – A Compromise
This area is also home to several species of roosting and foraging bats. Specifically, along a 700m stretch of Frederiksborgvej and the cycle superhighway ‘the Farum route’.
The brief for the project was to implement a lighting solution for the road and the bicycle path with the lowest possible impact on the living conditions of the bats in a nearby colony. Fortunately, Light Bureau had the privilege of working closely with the client, who was open to testing out alternative solutions.
Based on scientific research on the biological impact of lighting on bats and their prey, alongside briefings from biologists, Light Bureau worked out a compromise between the needs of humans and bats and designed an innovative solution with the lowest possible environmental impact.
Research shows that red light is less disruptive on wildlife while allowing people to find their way and even maintaining their dark adaption for nighttime viewing, so a narrow bandwidth of red light was chosen for the solution.
Reducing the amount of light in the area
The lighting is projected from an installation of 30 bollards of 1-meter height spaced with a 30-meter distance. The bollards are placed far apart to create corridors of complete darkness, allowing for light-shy species that are earth-bound to cross the area without being exposed as potential prey and still providing ample lighting for the bicycle path.
The frequency in which the bollards are placed aims at reducing the amount of light in the area and only introduces what is necessary for cyclists to pass through the area. This way, we can preserve the nearby habitat of protected bats and secure a low impact on their natural behavior as possible.
Where cyclists and pedestrians need to cross the road, 12 higher poles of 3.5 meters have been placed to create a change in the environment, which helps improve awareness and increase safety in these specific areas.
