light review

Peter told us that the city is testing a bunch of new light technology, from production sources, to fixture design. Tony and I, returning from the RASC meeting at the OSC, toured through 2 sites:

area 7: Beresford Avenue (Bloor to Colbeck)

data: induction lighting tested on a local roadway with low pedestrian traffic

Bad. Bad bad. They look like "classic" cobra lights with oval diffusers that hang down from the fixture. The bulb is brighter and has a blue-white hue. The light cast is wide. We remarked on how the street lights were illuminating the fronts of the houses, in many cases, up to the bedroom windows on the second floor.

area 10: Lakeshore Boulevard (Colborne Lodge to Parkside)

data: electronic digital ballast operating metal halide lighting tested on a major roadway with low pedestrian traffic

Intense point-source lights. Many closely spaced. Hard to look at. Made you squint. We were stopped at the traffic light and the intense bulb light was coming directly in our eyes for all the light standards for the next 500 metres. Extremely bright blue-white illumination onto the road surface. Clearly not full cut-off. No diffusers; just a carbonate curved shell.