Reply #13: As an amateur astronomer, I'm often shut-down by light pollution.

[DemoTex]

When I first moved to Dallas in 1996, I marveled at the pristine night skies .. even in the city. With clean air, light pollution is not as noticeable. However, after a few years of "voluntary" clean air compliance under Governor George Bu$h, the north Texas air became as foul as that found in the Houston area. The increase of particulate pollution in the air exacerbated the light pollution problem. Light (often gratuitous, vain, "landscape" lighting) reflected from some of the growing number of components of the air pollution, and the result, by about 1999, was a night sky that, most often, defied star gazing.

Fast forward to 2003 when I bought a mountain house in western North Carolina. It was star gazer heaven! Pristine night skies ruled. The only light pollution was from the moon! That started changing quickly however, as federal air quality standards were attenuated by - who else? - George W. Bu$h. The Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountains are downwind (prevailing westerlies) from the coal burning power plants of the Tennessee River Valley. The pollution from this high sulfur coal (called brimstone in the Bible .. the stuff hell is made of) forms sulfuric acid when mixed with water in the form of rain, snow, or even dew. The result has been a alarmingly rapid deleterious effect on the forests of the region. The high-mercury discharge levels from these power plants, OK now under Bu$hco, pollutes the water, poisons the fish, and presents significant health hazards to all flora and fauna, especially the human species.

Now, in the mountains, one can expect weeks and weeks of stagnant, choking, eye-burning air in the summer months. It takes a strong cold front to clear things out enough to use a telescope. Temperature inversions in the winter will fill the valleys with the foul, almost fog-like air, while the mountain tops and ridge lines sometimes (but not always) enjoy cleaner air. Again, it often takes a strong cold front with brisk northwest winds to clean the soup out enough to venture out for an evening of star gazing (but then, usually bundled against sub-zero chill factors).

As to any heat generated by light pollution, I would guess that it is relatively insignificant when compared to the heat generated in producing the power needed to illuminate all that light. But, as instructed by thermodynamics, every little bit .. in this case .. hurts.