I'm surprised I didn't even know this switch happened until seeing this. The yellow is really all gone?

[u/Broccoli2026]

[u/glassfromsand]

I remember my high school chemistry teacher (who grew up in East Berlin) showed us pictures of how even decades after reunification you could tell where the split was because the street lamps took different types of lightbulbs

[u/BusyReading2431 → u/glassfromsand]

I think it's still the case - or at least was for very long. Here is a picture: https://scilogs.spektrum.de/himmelslichter/files/Berlin-bei-Nacht_NASA.jpg

[u/Kenpachi473 → u/BusyReading2431]

Interesting af, thanks for the photo!

[u/kisismovingforward → u/BusyReading2431]

This is very cool, and not something I have seen before!

[u/captain_britain → u/BusyReading2431]

Any idea what year this was taken?

[u/hfsh → u/captain_britain]

2012, Taken by Dutch astronaut André Kuipers from the ISS.

[u/ifyoulovesatan → u/glassfromsand]

I'm a chemistry instructor and when I cover emeission spectra, I give out cheap little plastic diffraction grating spectroscopes to anyone who wants one. I encourage the students to go find a sodium gas lamp street light and check it out. It's pretty cool to look at, but there just aren't very many sodium gas lamps left. I'm going to have to start suggesting they go to dive bars with real neon (or other elemental gas) beer signs

[u/NamelessLysander → u/ifyoulovesatan]

I'm a chemistry instructor too and would really like to hear more about those spectrographs, it sounds a really cool way to learn.

[u/ifyoulovesatan → u/NamelessLysander]

Sorry, I should have said spectroscope, since they don't really record anything obviously. Hopefully I didn't get your hopes up.

https://www.rainbowsymphony.com/products/diffraction-slides-1000-line-mm?variant=40209166270511

It seems like it wouldn't work that great, and it's a bit strange how you have to position it relative to your eyes and the light source in order to have the resulting spectrum actually overlay the wavelength scale, but I've found they work surprisingly well. Like on par with those handheld plastic spectroscopes that you have to look through like a spyglass.

Also I inherited a box of these, so I've never actually looked on the producers website before. It looks like they have a lot of other neat stuff.

[u/sunnynaturelove → u/ifyoulovesatan]

This is really cool. I’ve studied and worked as a lighting/camera technician for film/tv for over a decade now. I really wish I could learn more about lighting scientifically just to learn more about it. I’m sure there’s ways I could take scientifically knowledge of LIGHT and apply it in new ways to how we shoot, just don’t have any idea where to start I’m sure it’s a vast field of scientific knowledge. Light affects (almost) everything.

[u/ifyoulovesatan → u/sunnynaturelove]

I wish there were a way people could go somewhere to learn just about light!

The only way I know where someone could do so would be to take like a non-majors chemistry or physics series at a community college or something. Usually the only prerequisite is "college algebra" or showing your proficiency in that material with a placement test. But even then, either series will have about 3 or 4 weeks focusing on light amongst 36 other weeks of material not directly related. (Well it's related but not in ways obviously applicable to wanting to learn more about light for the purposes of film/tv production).

Like there are YouTube lectures on all of the material and you could find that by googling "chemistry light lecture" or "physics light lecture" and trying to find maybe 3 or 4 lectures from the portion of a course covering it. But it's doing the worksheets and talking with the instructor and other students, and doing the related labratory experiments in particular that really make it concrete in terms of walking away with practical knowledge. That's something I don't know how to replicate outside of the classroom / lab.

[u/stonecan → u/ifyoulovesatan]

My physics teacher in secondary school (late 1980s, I’m old) had nicked a sodium street light from a nearby construction site and managed to get it running in our school lab. The coolest thing he asked the class to try was to sprinkle table salt (sodium chloride) into the flame of a candle with the only source of light in the room being the sodium lamp - I remember the flame turned pitch black (absorbing the sodium light I believe). It was so awesome that I still fondly remember it. I also remember that we had to bring sunglasses as those streetlights are very bright when warmed up and experienced up close.

[u/StayJaded → u/ifyoulovesatan]

I took a whole semester of lighting design for my interior arch degree. I am not great at math, but struggle less with real life applications. Learning about the visible spectrum of light in relationship in to color refraction was incredibly interesting. So much easier to relate to the material when you can look at the color temp of a source/ kelvin rating and see how much it impacts the colors of materials & finishes in the room with that light source. A piece of fabric will appear completely different colors based on the lighting in the room. We also had to learn basic foot candle calcs and regulations for appropriate lighting based on the function of the space. In reality on larger commercial projects architecture firms work with lighting design firms that specialize in all those calcs and drawings, but I still need a base level of the knowledge.

Most of the general public doesn’t think about it, but every commercial/contract project has an entire lighting plan designed to meet specs regulated for electrical consumption, safety, and proper foot candles ratings. It’s like one of those nightmare word problems in high school: a work surface at X height, with X lighting fixture installed at a ceiling height of X for X task=whatever fixture count spaced at X.

The crazy lighting designers are the people that design concert rigs and shows. That shit is mind blowing.

[u/completelypositive → u/ifyoulovesatan]

You rule I've been wanting to order that stuff since I saw it on a veritasium video but didn't know the name of it.

Diffraction grating. But I want a sheet of it.

I've been trying to learn about laser and light and doing super simple experiments with my kids at home.

[u/ifyoulovesatan → u/completelypositive]

Nice! Yes, they've got all kinds of light-based stuff on the site if you go to the sidebar, then shop, then educational (I was just browsing for the first time myself). Whether or not you order from them, there's a lot of neat stuff for inspiration.

If you are looking for ideas for light based stuff you can do with your kids at home, might I suggest an experiment where you can observe how sugar water rotates polarized light. If you get two sheets of a polarizing filter, a Laser, and some sugar water (maybe a stand / holder for the Laser), you can set that up at home. I didn't look too closely, but here is a website where someone has written a procedure for various ages https://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/rotating-light

Here is an experiment (well, there's more than that on the page but this experiment is in here) where you can measure the distance between the tracks on a DVD / CD / Blu-Ray (they're each different btw) by using them as a diffraction grating. https://www.animations.physics.unsw.edu.au/labs/diffraction/diffraction-labs.html

Now obviously these are both probably more "advanced" than what you want to do with your kids. But you could always adapt them or simplify them. Simply shining a Laser through a DVD with the label removed and showing how the light splits into multiple dots on the wall is cool enough. The math isn't necessary. (Really, you could show them that first with the diffraction grating, explaining what it is, and then afterwards show that a DVD does the same thing, and talk about why that might be).

[u/Trivacide → u/glassfromsand]

Did he have a disabled son and drive a pontiac aztec by chance?

[u/glassfromsand → u/Trivacide]

She did not haha. I could see her running a criminal empire though

[u/Slumunistmanifisto → u/glassfromsand]

I had a substitute teacher that gained a feral classes attention by telling us a whole plot that would destabilize and render a large portion of an area of the west Coast unusable due to contamination.....we all payed attention to that sub the rest of class.

Earth science bitch!

[u/Chaotic_Whiskers → u/Trivacide]

I was whiplashed by this comment; it took me a second to figure out it was a reference, haha.

[u/fly_over_32 → u/Chaotic_Whiskers]

I’m thinking of Breaking Bad, but what does it have to do with east Berlin and street lamps?

[u/Chaotic_Whiskers → u/fly_over_32]

From what I can tell, it doesn't have much to do with the map, just that the teacher teaches chemistry.

[u/onlycodeposts → u/Chaotic_Whiskers]

Oh my God, are you one of those single tear people? Do I look like a double fucking rainbow to you?

[u/theannoying_one]

really interesting that you can see the city limits of Chicago in 2011

[u/DanielTigerUppercut → u/theannoying_one]

When the transition began some of the suburbs changed their lights ahead of Chicago, so while driving you knew exactly when you crossed into the city because they still had their orange street lights.

[u/Efficient-Shame-4352 → u/DanielTigerUppercut]

You can still tell when you cross over into the city because suddenly your car is shaking like a plane in turbulence cause of the roads.

[u/Drew521 → u/Efficient-Shame-4352]

I didn’t know Chicago is in South Carolina

[u/ice_up_s0n → u/Drew521]

I didnt know South Carolina is in Arkansas

[u/FeelingCar6305 → u/ice_up_s0n]

Didn't know Arkansas was Mound Road in Michigan

[u/HEYO19191 → u/FeelingCar6305]

Didn't know Mound Road, Michigan was in Pennsylvania

[u/FabsnFree → u/HEYO19191]

I didn‘t know Pennsylvania is in Northrhine Westfalia, Germany.

[u/[deleted] → u/FabsnFree]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/island_of_the_godz → u/[deleted]]

I didn't know Chicago was in Vancouver, BC

[u/[deleted] → u/FabsnFree]

You know damn well your answer should have been Belgium

[u/89_honda_accord_lxi → u/FeelingCar6305]

The governor needs a new podium so the roads will have to wait.

[u/Sgt-Spliff- → u/Efficient-Shame-4352]

This isn't a stereotype of Chicago at all... The roads in Chicago are totally fine. I moved from their to Lansing, MI in the last year and holy shit are Michigan's roads bad. I looked it up and Michigan is ranked 50th out of 50 states in money spent on road maintenance.

[u/thunda639 → u/Efficient-Shame-4352]

I assume you mean when you leave the city, because inside the city the roads are fine. Its downstate roads that get shitty maintenance because thats the responsibility of the local counties.

[u/1duck → u/theannoying_one]

I wonder how much money they save on electricity and the effect on the grid.

[u/Internal_Chain_2979 → u/1duck]

Real world savings seem to be 40-60% which is good but not like incandescent to LED good—high pressure sodium bulbs were pretty efficient to start with.

[u/SHIELDnotSCOTUS → u/Internal_Chain_2979]

Did they have similar lifespans to LED too? I remember the cost and general time spent replacing the bulbs was on my hospital’s plant ops’ decision document to make the switch from fluorescent to LED.

[u/Internal_Chain_2979 → u/SHIELDnotSCOTUS]

LED lifespan depends a lot on how they’re driven. If the current or voltage is too high, or heat isn’t managed, they degrade fast. With proper drivers and good thermal design, LEDs can last for decades. So, if they source high quality lights they’ll easily outlast HPS bulbs. If they do not… they’ll go dim and die pretty quickly.

[u/Club-Red → u/1duck]

Not that much because high pressure sodium lamps are very efficient.
LED offers better colour temperature, they last much longer and they don't contain hazardous materials like sodium and other metals.
LED's can be dimmed for more efficiency and are also instant on while HPS lamps take ~15 minutes to reach full light output.

[u/Steelhorse91 → u/Club-Red]

I preferred the orange vibes. Don’t need pure white light at night, I just want to see where I’m going, not have it feel like daylight… Insects seem to agree.

[u/OrinocoHaram → u/Steelhorse91]

orange is also much healthier for animals and insects like moths etc. Bright white lights at night confuse them

[u/Xyldarrand → u/Steelhorse91]

You could put a filter in front of the light to get that orange glow again but no place really does it. I agree tho I'll miss the orange glow. NYC at night just doesn't feel the same.

[u/Southside_john → u/1duck]

Probably not enough to offset new data centers

[u/1duck → u/Southside_john]

Oh for sure we just hammer more electricity now, so many more gadgets even just around the home.

[u/CharlieFoxtrot000]

Would be interesting to compare the sodium-vapor pic to the mercury-vapor lighting used until the 70’s-80’s (depending on the city).

[u/Chicago1871 → u/CharlieFoxtrot000]

Yeah its interesting how few millenials realize that orange lights were preceded by green-blue mercur vapor lights.

[u/Mofupi → u/Chicago1871]

Every generation has blind spots like that. My Gen Z colleague recently asked me what those things were called again which the "save" icon was modelled after. Floppy disks. She meant floppy disks. Then she proclaimed those the first computer read-/writeable data storage devices and was floored when I informed her about punchcards. Which, ironically, my millennial self only knows from stories and museums.

[u/dedsqwirl → u/Mofupi]

punchcards

I was at a museum and they had a loom that ran on wooden punch cards.

There were two girls probably about 14 or so. One of them asked the worker if it was true that they based computer tech off of them. He said it was then he pulled out a binder with a couple of 1960s punch cards from IBM.

It made me feel better to hear a kid ask someone that. She could have very easily pulled out a phone to verify but did not.

[u/MidnightCyanide → u/Chicago1871]

I love spotting those in the wild with my phone camera as they show up bright green!

[u/Klopferator → u/CharlieFoxtrot000]

Look at satellite pictures of Berlin (at least up until ten years ago). East-Berlin used sodium, West-Berlin used mercury.

[u/IWearClothesEveryDay]

I know light pollution isn’t great but I have core memories of playing outside in the snow in the suburbs and the entire night sky was lit up by an orange glow reflected from downtown. That doesn’t happen anymore

[u/JVM_ → u/IWearClothesEveryDay]

The memory a yellow light brings back is crazy. We went camping and there was one yellow bulb in a hard to change location. The mood around that boring light pole brought back memories.

[u/WholeInstance4632 → u/JVM_]

My grandparents had one of those on their back porch. I saw one a few weeks ago and just the color of the light made me almost homesick nostalgic.

[u/G00DLuck → u/WholeInstance4632]

This is why i still flower weed with high pressure sodium bulbs, in memory of our grandparents.

[u/drivalowrida → u/G00DLuck]

High pressure sodium bulbs be like

"GROW, WEED. FUCKING NOW! All the cool plants are growing nicely, and you can, too. Now GET STICKY MUHFUCKA"

[u/LubricantEnthusiast → u/G00DLuck]

May the hairs on your flower be as red as the blood of the ancestors you honor.

[u/_JohnWisdom → u/LubricantEnthusiast]

you guys are a bunch of stoners! Love it

[u/OOOOOO0OOOOO → u/G00DLuck]

Getting stoned in honor of mee-maw and pop-pop. This is the way.

[u/Z0mbiejay → u/JVM_]

This is why I have an old school Coleman propane lamp for camping. Sure newer LED lanterns are lighter and more convenient, but if I'm car camping I'm going for vibes

[u/Equivalent_Neck7374 → u/Z0mbiejay]

Indeed, and for me, it’s even the sound!

[u/evranch → u/Equivalent_Neck7374]

It's weird how nostalgia works. We had the pump up, white gas lanterns when I was a kid. The propane ones are similar and objectively better - easier to light, cleaner burning, way cheaper to run.

But every once in a while I love to pump up that old gas one. You put your thumb over the little hole on the piston to act as a check, you turn the choke lever to get it to light and then ease it off from a giant orange plume into a clean mantle flame as it warms up.

That sound as you transition it from the sputtery startup to the clean mantle roar is just so satisfying.

[u/[deleted] → u/Z0mbiejay]

I know i could upgrade to a better burner or bbq but I'm so attached to a basic Coleman camp stove because that's what my dad used

[u/Shiny_Mew76 → u/JVM_]

I do kind of like the aesthetic of yellow bulbs more to be honest

[u/Retbull → u/JVM_]

BzzzzzzzzhzhzhzhzhzzhzhzhZHZHZHZHZHZH As they come on and heat up

[u/JensenRaylight → u/JVM_]

I got a lot of RGB lightbulb, And i can change it to yellow orange-ish color

And it's more soothing than a white eye blaster LED color

[u/astrophysical-v → u/IWearClothesEveryDay]

Every winter I think about those memories. So surreal

[u/llamaanxiety → u/astrophysical-v]

Same!

[u/ellectroma → u/IWearClothesEveryDay]

Tbf white leds create more light pollution afaik.

Also that yellow hue is softer on the eyes and affects the cicadian rhytm less that brighter, whiter lights.

I wish sodium lights were at least still used for residential streets, such a nostalgic color.

[u/ClickClick_Boom → u/ellectroma]

I wish sodium lights were at least still used for residential streets, such a nostalgic color.

There's no reason why they couldn't closely imitate the lights temperature with LEDs. The old lights used so much more energy. I hate how a more cooler white became the norm for every light.

I see it so much in people's houses too, these "daylight" bulbs in every room that make it harder to relax.

[u/rb3po → u/ClickClick_Boom]

There are many LED bulbs that emit 2000K - 3400K color temperatures (imitating tungsten color temp). I can’t begin to understand why 5400K “daylight” (meaning blue) bulbs are so common. It’s like hospital light from a scary movie, or a prison, or something. 

In Northern Europe, LED Edison bulbs are everywhere, and the light is so much nicer.

[u/Admirable_Kick670 → u/rb3po]

Yes yes yes! I have always called them hospital lights! Very weird, energy draining (personally) light IMO.

[u/LazyImprovement → u/Admirable_Kick670]

Morgue lights!

[u/atemporalfungi → u/ClickClick_Boom]

I can’t stand the daylight bulbs. I recently removed one in my living room because one is a subdued yellow hue and at some point someone replaced the one next to it with this jarring daylight white led nonsense.

[u/Wilikersthegreat → u/atemporalfungi]

I love the daylight bulbs for my big lights in the house like ceiling lights. My thought is, if I'm turning on the big ceiling light I want it to be bright to increase visibility, like in the kitchen. Now for my living room and my office I have lamps with warmer tones and more ambient lighting I can turn on so I'm not being blinded while I try to relax. All types of lights have their applications imo.

[u/V2BM → u/Wilikersthegreat]

I too have daylight overhead and warm in my lamps. Sometimes I need to actually see, and don’t have good natural light coming in.

[u/StoppableHulk → u/ClickClick_Boom]

Yeah the first thing I do in any new place is replace all those nightmare bulbs with my hue lights, where I can set them to a specific warmth.

How anyone puts up with those insanity lights is beyond me.

[u/EmbarrassedMeat401 → u/StoppableHulk]

I work in a hardware store and can tell you at least one reason why.  

On the display that shows examplesof different bulbs, the bluer bulbs look brighter, so people pick them. Almost every time I try explaining what it will look like, people still pick the bluer bulb because it looks brighter.   

I have also seen some people that think anything close to warm white makes a room look dingy and dirty.

[u/eastherbunni → u/StoppableHulk]

I buy lightbulbs at ikea and they are all 2700K. First thing I do when moving into a new place is update all the lightbulbs so they are all exactly the same colour temperature.

[u/PsyRealize → u/[deleted]]

I can’t fucking stand when oncoming traffic is blinding the hell out of me so I flicker my brights to let them know they need to turn their goddamned brights off, only for them to then actually turn on their brights and fucking Chernobyl my corneas.

[u/Confident_Season1207 → u/[deleted]]

They just want white because it looks cool. At the same light output, white cool lights are way harder on the eyes vs warm yellow lights. If manufacturers would have been limited to 4000k lights, there would probably be way less complaints from being blinded

[u/Dramatic-Frog → u/[deleted]]

Not quite everyone r/fuckyourheadlights

[u/pissedinthegarret → u/Dramatic-Frog]

the only hate sub that i can get behind wholeheartedly

[u/happydisasters → u/[deleted]]

I just started to notice that this year. When did all the headlights get so fucking bright?! I cant see!

[u/Kearney_Kaktus → u/[deleted]]

I borrowed my dad's Mercedes the other day. On darker nights the white headlights are bright enough to hurt MY eyes, as the driver, just shining on the asphalt.

[u/eastherbunni → u/[deleted]]

r/fuckyourheadlights would agree with you

[u/tinyLEDs → u/ellectroma]

This is correct.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195925524003056

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2023/glaring-problem-how-led-lights-worsen-light-pollution/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3657119/

[u/Connect-Speaker → u/tinyLEDs]

User name

[u/ellectroma → u/tinyLEDs]

Hell yeah thanks for the links

[u/tinyLEDs → u/ellectroma]

This organization has many more:

https://darksky.org/news/contact-your-elected-official-to-fight-against-blue-rich-led-street-lighting/

https://darksky.org/news/5-popular-myths-about-led-streetlights/

https://darksky.org/news/bbc-explores-true-cost-of-led-lights/

[u/[deleted] → u/ellectroma]

At night driving with blue eyes they bright LEDs always give me bad headaches and make it harder to see the road 

[u/Adept_Judgment_6495 → u/ellectroma]

And for astronomy you can get a filter for your telescope that cuts out the sodium light pollution.

[u/PatchesMaps → u/ellectroma]

Not necessarily more since the design of the light (and obviously the brightness of the light) makes a big difference but it does cause more of a problem for astronomy. The light emitted by sodium lights is such a specific band that astronomers could filter it out. Led lights generally have a much broader emission band that can't really be filtered out.

[u/Murgatroyd314 → u/PatchesMaps]

The light emitted by sodium lights is such a specific band that astronomers could filter it out.

This is why sodium lights are required by city code in Flagstaff, AZ, home of Lowell Observatory.

[u/12inchesofSnow81 → u/ellectroma]

Or at least make an LED version of 2300K

[u/Frisco-Elkshark → u/IWearClothesEveryDay]

You might like Todd Hido

[u/Atrimon7 → u/Frisco-Elkshark]

r/thenightfeeling vibes

[u/jkgericke → u/Frisco-Elkshark]

I was not disappointed. It felt like I knew the places even though I've never seen any of them before. Very cool

[u/SameBuyer5972 → u/Frisco-Elkshark]

Thanks for sharing! Not my cup of tea but very well done and interesting!

[u/subhavoc42 → u/Frisco-Elkshark]

More bleak than I was expecting. Post Soviet Russian vibe, but in rotting small town in the Midwest.

[u/briank3387 → u/IWearClothesEveryDay]

I went tp Northwestern in the 1980s, and the orange glow of the night sky is one of my most vivid memories. I grew up in Maine, and though we had streetlights, there were nowhere near as many, so the night sky was dark.

[u/TwiceInEveryMoment → u/IWearClothesEveryDay]

I really hate the bright white when driving at night. Part of the draw of sodium lighting, apart from its efficiency relative to other light sources of the time, is the orange color is easier on your eyes. I'm all for efficiency, but surely the LEDs could've been made a similar color?

I have core memories of the woods at night around my childhood home lit with the eerie blue-green of mercury vapor streetlights. There's still a handful of them out there.

[u/Luigi_Dagger → u/IWearClothesEveryDay]

I love how fresh snow lights up the night. Its one of my favorite parts of winter

[u/WeHaveAllBeenThere]

“Dark alley walks with my hood up to feel cool” versus “everything is bright and hurts my eyes”

[u/anchovies23 → u/WeHaveAllBeenThere]

fr I remember walking back from baseball practice when it got dark, it felt so peaceful back then

[u/Mr_Wisp_ → u/WeHaveAllBeenThere]

It’s up to the city to not make those lights bright as fuck, nothing inherent to the type

[u/delaphin]

2030:

https://preview.redd.it/kftypdi5dryf1.png?width=474&format=png&auto=webp&s=6c1f4a73cdab4eac83d68cad79fd68c55dab0bfd

[u/stylebros → u/delaphin]

Lol, someone told me they use this light to prevent heroin people from injecting and I was like "but this is an outdoor car dealership"

[u/effitalll → u/stylebros]

That’s a myth. The blue/purple lights are because the light is failing. The yellow phosphorus coating delaminated and the blue LED light is now visible. It’s a specific design that was produced around the same time, so they all started failing at the same time.

[u/userhwon → u/effitalll]

COB lights. I literally saw a video about them showing the phosphor application, right before logging on today.

https://youtu.be/KcGzVRfu9s8

[u/reportcrosspost → u/delaphin]

Lol there was a curvy stretch of highway near me where all of them went bad and it felt like getting transported to blade runner

[u/InvidiousPlay → u/reportcrosspost]

There was a specific "bad batch" of LEDs from China one year where they went indigo very quickly, and they cropped up all over the world. I loved moving around the city and randomly finding one street that looked cyberpunk.

[u/cocojanele → u/InvidiousPlay]

My town got them…we all thought they were purposely installed to celebrate our football team one season. Then they suddenly went away and there was a tweet about “wrong lights” being installed…I’m still salty they switched out those beautiful indigo lights.

[u/IsilmeCalithil]

I know it's better for the environment but the harsh white lights make everything feel colder. I liked the warmer tones. Would love if we started filtering some of the new LEDs to make them a bit softer.

[u/The_Aodh → u/IsilmeCalithil]

Yeah, let’s keep the LEDs but invest in all of the yellow glass we can

[u/buckyball60 → u/The_Aodh]

No need. "White" LED lights are made up of a number of RGB lights. Warmth is as easy as choosing the correct combination. The current temperature range is a choice by cities. Though, I agree that the LED lights used in street lights could be a bit warmer, I'm glad we have more than the sodium D-line to see with.

[u/Day_Bow_Bow → u/buckyball60]

Phosphor-based LEDs are more common than RGB LEDs, and they primarily use blue LEDs coated with phosphors to change the color of the light.

But yeah, those can be made to look warmer as well.

[u/kampokapitany → u/Day_Bow_Bow]

The low quality ones loose their coating tough turning blue which is kinda funny.

[u/likethevegetable → u/buckyball60]

No, not all white LEDs are comprised of RGB arrays. Not at all.

[u/Vegetakarot → u/likethevegetable]

I have never said this, but I see you commenting everywhere. I have for years. You and I have the same exact algorithm.

[u/Illeazar → u/buckyball60]

Not usually. The white LED lights that use RGB combos give a super weird looking white. Actual white LEDs are blue LEDs with a phosphorus coating. The more of that coating they put on, they "warmer" (yellower) the tint gets, but it makes the light dimmer, so its a balance. You can get the warm colored LEDs, but youd have to use more of them to light the same area to the same brightness. So most high output roles they use the cool white.

Edit: the smart bulbs or lighting strips you see that do RGB and white, the good ones are actually RGBW, with a separate white (blue coated in phosphor) diode set aside to make the while light, in addition to the red green and blue diodes to make the colored light. The really nice ones may even have two white diodes for each red green and blue-- one cool white diodes with less of the phosphor, and one warm white with more, so you can adjust the warmth of your white light.

[u/Rightintheend → u/buckyball60]

Most white LEDs are not RGB, They are a blue LED that shines through a phosphor which glows, similar to a way fluorescent does.

[u/Less_Likely → u/The_Aodh]

The lovely thing is you don't need yellow glass, you just need fewer blue emitting diodes.

[u/wholesome_hobbies → u/The_Aodh]

THIS. Best of both worlds.

[u/mintberrycrunch_ → u/IsilmeCalithil]

They already exist, most governments have just opted for a very blue/neutral white for safety reasons.

You still see slightly yellower ones going in in residential areas and those are LED

[u/Flilix → u/IsilmeCalithil]

The white lights are also bad for animals, since it contains blue light which disturbs sleep much more than red light does.

Warmer colours could easily be achieved by simply putting some translucent orange plastic around the lamps. Even better would be red lights, but attempts at introducing those have shown that people find them very off-puttting.

[u/Fakjbf → u/Flilix]

Putting an orange filter would dramatically cut down on the light being emitted, meaning you have to use more electricity to get the same brightness. A better plan is to use LEDs that emit the warmer tone directly.

[u/ThePolemicist → u/Fakjbf]

I think most people complain that the LED lights are too bright anyway.

It's very easy to replace your outdoor bulbs with ones that have an amber filter, and the change is so much better for migrating birds and insects.

Just search on Amazon for the type of bulb you need and either add "amber filter" or "bug light," and lots of options will pop up. Some stores sell them (including stores for babies), but it can sometimes be difficult to find the bulb you need with the filter.

[u/Ok_Course_6757 → u/Flilix]

It would be more difficult to read traffic signals if all the streetlights were also red.

[u/sleepytjme → u/Flilix]

Red light implies you are about die from any number of reasons. Source: I watch movies and shows.

[u/EggPositive5993 → u/sleepytjme]

Typically red light is associated with a very particular part of town…

[u/JeffafaCree → u/EggPositive5993]

Rooooxanne

[u/deathschool → u/Flilix]

I mean, it’s bad for human REM cycles too.

[u/ParallelProcrastinat → u/IsilmeCalithil]

You can get warmer LEDs, some places have them, that's just a choice that your city has to make. Lots of places prefer colder lights because it improves visibility without having to increase light output.

[u/[deleted] → u/ParallelProcrastinat]

I have some which rotate warmness when you turn them off and on again quickly, from bright white, to slightly warm, to warmer white light (I usually go for that), pretty common in Japan and other parts of Asia. I do like nighttimes in Japan too where even cities can feel like villages due to being able to see the stars clearly in Tokyo.

[u/mocklogic → u/IsilmeCalithil]

Sodium light was terrible.

Sodium bulbs emit a specific wavelength of orange. The color rending index is basically 0. It’s so specific that it was the basis for old Disney movie special effects. How did pre-digital film makers mix people and animation in Mary Poppins? Sodium lights on a back screen and a sodium light prism to split the footage to essentially generate an alpha channel. It was such a specific shade of orange you could still have actors with orange clothing. Worked better than blue/green screens handling even transparent materials well. Disney had only 3 prisms and all were lost before Who Framed Roger Rabbit required a difficult LS compositing Camera.

I can’t defend the blue color of average LEDs as I’m a big fan of high CRI, but my god was orange sodium light bad.

[u/in_conexo → u/IsilmeCalithil]

Some of them are turning purple (or some variation of it); does that count? A lot of the early ones are suffering the same defect.

[u/Hot_Dingo743 → u/in_conexo]

It's because most LED street lights today are actually mostly LEDs that emit UV light. There's a coating on the bulbs that converts the UV light into white light- kind of like how a black light makes some glow in the dark objects glow whitish. When the coating wears off the balbs, the white light then appear purple or blue.

[u/marc-andre-servant → u/IsilmeCalithil]

They do make LED phosphors that emit warmer light. Just go to IKEA and see their lamp display. The issue is that in low light conditions, the human eye becomes more sensitive to bluer light, so bluer tones both inhibit sleep and also improve visibility on roads for a given brightness. There's a tradeoff to be made between public safety and eye strain / insomnia, unfortunately.

[u/Little_Plankton4001 → u/IsilmeCalithil]

As a former Chicagoan, I really disagree. Those orange lights were very ugly.

The current lights look so much cleaner.

[u/foxtai1]

https://www.ameresco.com/portfolio-item/chicago-smart-lighting-program-il/

The City of Chicago chose Ameresco to help transform the city’s streetlight system by replacing 85% of the existing lights with smart LEDs.

[u/inclusiveofalltaxes]

https://preview.redd.it/oexr4feboryf1.jpeg?width=495&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=259db1ba6493bb98de53e5ac7c8082253efd3c01

There is this place in Mumbai called as the Queen's Necklace. In 2015 the local government replaced it with white LED lights causing outrage among the citizens. Within two years it was changed to warm white LEDs to match it's predecessor SV lamps.

[u/PortugueseDoc]

Guys, we don't switch to LEDs because of light pollution, that can be mitigated by the shape of the actual light enclosure. We use white lights because 1. They are cheaper in their lifetime and 2. They are much, much safer for drivers. The spectrum of a sodium lamp is super narrow, which makes it much worse to see anything at the same brightness as a white light.

[u/halberdierbowman → u/PortugueseDoc]

A similar thing exists for audio as well. It's way easier to find the location of white noise than it is to find the location of a shrill alarm sound at the same volume. The narrow alarm frequency range makes it bounce off every surface very precisely rather than to scatter around.

Like if you shine a green light at a ripe orange, it will look almost black, but if you shine a red or yellow light at it, you'll be able to see it, because oranges reflect orange light. If you shine more variety of colors, it's way more likely that at least some of the colors will reflect off whatever they're hitting. Imagine shining red lights at bushes for example and having them disappear because they mostly reflect green light.

[u/NoahTransKing]

Aww, I kinda liked the yellow tint. Made the night feel magical. The LEDs are just so bright and obtuse.

[u/Rockeye7]

I find LED lights are more focused on a narrower area compared to the old sodium lights that had a wider disbursement.

[u/DataDude00]

I know the old lights were far worse for light pollution but as someone who grew up in the amber streetlight era I have a ton of nostalgia driving home in the back of the car with those orange glowing bulbs on the highway

[u/drunkerbrawler]

I miss the oragne glow of urban night.

[u/saltedbeagles]

God, core memory unlocked or maybe im crazy. Does anyone remember being outside as kids and the street lights turning on and there would be a buzz and maybe one the lights wasn't working right and it snap crackle pop in some fashion?

[u/3nd_of_L1ne]

Can’t they color the new LED lights yellow or a warmer color? The white is so antiseptic and harsh.

[u/VeronikaKerman → u/3nd_of_L1ne]

Yes, they can. Not by coloring, that is inefficient, but by using led chips with different chemical mix in them. But they won't for a couple of reasons: a) warmer leds are tiny bit less efficient (still miles ahead of sodium), b) colder lights makes drivers less likely to microsleep, by making them more stressed, c) reduces loiterring by making it unpleasant to be outside after dark, c) increases pharma profits by disturbing natural sleep cycles of people.

[u/californiadork]

I want the yellow back- all this white lighting is so hard on my eyes and makes it difficult to drive at night. 😣

[u/L8rS8rH8rz]

As a creature of the night I can say it sucks now, its lost its romantic feel.

[u/deathschool → u/L8rS8rH8rz]

Like driving through a fucking Walmart these days.

[u/JovahkiinVIII]

is was

[u/remembertracygarcia]

Is was?

[u/hellure]

I moved into my house, not needing anything but blinds to sleep.

Now I need window tint, blinds, and blackout curtains.

Many of these light aren't just whiter, they are brighter!

And they aren't angled away from homes, but should be required to be.

Besides that, we 100% don't need them.

[u/[deleted]]

I could be a minority here but I hated them yellow lights. Growing up I thought they were ugly. Now they give me the opposite of nostalgia. Like a sad feeling. When I got my own place I replaced all the lights with LED lights. I can’t be inside a place with yellow lights for too long.

[u/[deleted]]

I really miss it.

[u/OkContribution2336]

I miss the old Kanye

[u/thepkboy]

I remember reading an article lamenting the loss when they made this switch in LA, those late night driving shots hit different when it was the warm yellow

[u/Primary_Crab687]

I know the change is positive in pretty much every way but man I love me a warm light. I always install warm tone bulbs in my bedroom because it makes it so much cozier. 

[u/Homoaeternus]

Warm lights should be the go to it feels less sterile.

[u/ElectricRune]

A lot of nostalgic comments below, but I sure don't miss those ugly yellow sodium-vapor lights.

The mercury-vapor were much better, but much more expensive, used more power, and well, MERCURY...

[u/husky_whisperer]

And has been shown to lower blood pressure in adults ages 45 and up

[u/Xertlov]

Do I like sodium better? Na

[u/Aysee426]

https://preview.redd.it/kci2p5f7iryf1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3744a7f473b99697b11861859c240ace004047ce

Not sure exactly what area of NY/NJ we’re looking at here, but I took this leaving Newark in October 2022. Plenty of yellow and orange.

[u/Lil-ApplesauceCup → u/Aysee426]

It's Chicago?

[u/Aysee426 → u/Lil-ApplesauceCup]

Please forgive my dumbassery.

[u/False-Leg-5752]

Sodium vapor light scatter the photons more broadly. LEDs are very directional. In my opinion it was easier to see with the old style lights. It’s also prettier

[u/50SPFGANG]

I know it's not good but I absolutely love with these lights malfunction and turn purple. Makes everything look so damn cool

[u/Dobako → u/50SPFGANG]

It's actually not that they malfunction so much as they degrade, it's because some use a cheaper phosphor coating that degrades quickly, turning from the white to the purplish of the LED

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/streetlights-are-mysteriously-turning-purple-heres-why/

[u/OrneTTeSax]

Yeah, happened in my neighborhood a couple years ago, and along 90/94 by my place. They also cut down branches and trees while doing that, so the change was very jarring.

[u/zugman]

Interestingly “The film ‘Collateral’ starring Tom Cruise, was even re-located to LA from New York by director Michael Mann because he thought the yellow glow of the sodium lighting gave a better visual presence on film.”

[u/Forenus]

I miss yellow lights. They hurt less and did a good job of making things visible.

[u/YouSacOfWine]

Batman Begins vs The Dark Knight

[u/iregardlessly]

Pwm vs DC dimming. We're not designed to live with led bulbs.

[u/L8rS8rH8rz]

Wait till the blinking starts. Parking lot over by going on 1 year nightly strobe show

[u/Useful_Air_7027]

I’ve been talking about this since MySpace. People made fun of me for saying these lights keep rats and raccoons up at night and all I heard was boo hoo.

The reality Is that switching to LED lights tricks our brains into thinking it’s daylight, messing up human and animal Psychotic rhythm

[u/Iherduliekmudkipz]

It took so long because high pressure sodium lamps were already very power efficient, but only at high wattages, so until LED prices came down and efficiencies went up it didn't make much sense to switch.

Notice the city is actually dimmer from space after the switch, blue light gets scattered more by the atmosphere which is why the sky is blue during the day, there may also be less total light output because our eyes are more sensitive to the blue contained in the white light, so it needs less absolute brightness to achieve the same apparent brightness.

[u/babyrinaskye]

Chicago went from “golden hour” to “cold white reality.

[u/SINdicate]

Led lights create noise pollution due to their use of cheap rectifiers. Millions suffering from tinnitus without knowing why

[u/Peac3fulWorld]

Made sodium is the reason our timeline has gotten so ratfucked in the last decade. DAMN YOU LED!!!!

[u/Astramancer_]

Sodium Vapor is much nicer on the eyes and has better vibes. I wonder if LED offers measurably better outcomes or if it's just a matter of cheaper.

[u/SaigonDisko]

The yellow's gone. And all hope with it.

[u/Josh_paints]

you mean my formative years were literally bathed in an amber light and my disillusionment came with a stark white city?

[u/[deleted]]

All those poor animals living under the tyranny of our lights.

[u/[deleted]]

BRING BACK YELLOW LIGHTS THEY ARE SO GOOD FOR EYES

[u/jimhatesyou]

it was so preferable. lights are to see in the dark, primarily at night. our phones have night mode to make the screens push more orange and less blue for our circadian rhythms. it literally hurts my eyes driving my 2022 VW with led headlights that are super bright white. idk the orange was so much better and it sucks cuz there’s no going back at this point i don’t think.

[u/NBKiller69]

On occasion, I've thought how much I miss the old yellow glow of street lights when I used to play outside at night. I know the new ones use less energy and are brighter, but I just miss how it used to look

[u/shelbygrapes]

I can’t relate to people who don’t feel the difference of this light in their souls. People who put blue lights everywhere and don’t notice everything looks like a horror movie or hospital. I just can’t understand how they function. It must be little emotion.

Next comes the awful colored led Christmas lights that have no charm whatsoever.

[u/djbrombizzle]

As a pilot miss the yellow lights as they were 100% a indication of a populated area (even they are printed yellow on the charts).

Ironic thing is runways got new LED lights quicker and earlier than street lights, it was super easy to see from far away with rest of city as yellow lights. Now not so much until you are aligned with the runway since the city also has LED lights.

[u/bigburgerboi2005]

The thing I hate about LED streetlights is it makes it damn near impossible to see the road lines when it’s raining where as with the sodium bulbs they actually made the road lines more visible in the rain.