Pennsylvania Outdoor Lighting Council

The Pennsylvania Outdoor Lighting Council provides advice on solving the problems of glare, light trespass and skyglow caused by careless and excessive use of outdoor lighting. The goal of the POLC is to improve outdoor lighting practices in Pennsylvania by educating municipal officials and the public about good outdoor lighting. Good outdoor lighting provides the right amount of light, not too little and not too much, while minimizing glare, light trespass and energy consumption. Good outdoor lighting uses energy wisely and avoids the safety and nuisance problems of obtrusive lighting.
The Pennsylvania Outdoor Lighting Council works directly with individuals to solve outdoor lighting problems and with municipal governments to develop outdoor lighting ordinances that promote outdoor lighting quality for the comfort and safety of the municipality's residents and businesses. An important part of the POLC's work involves its Model Outdoor Lighting Ordinances which can be extremely useful when a municipality lacks specific expertise with lighting issues, and seeks well designed ordinance language that can be tailored to its specific needs.
In partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the POLC has conducted outdoor lighting workshops for municipal officials in the following Pennsylvania counties:
NEWS: The POLC Model Lighting Ordinances are available in three versions: one for zoning
ordinances, one for subdivision ordinances and a stand-alone ordinance. For the lastest model
ordinances along with some existing outdoor lighting ordinances in Pennsylvania, CLICK HERE.

NEWS: The POLC Outdoor Lighting Toolkit for Homeowners is available now.
CLICK HERE to download. (pdf)

Outdoor Lighting in the News:

CLICK HERE for the Philadelphia Inquirer article titled "Let there be (less) light" published Mon, Oct. 22, 2007

Outdoor Lighting and Light Pollution Links:

POLC is the Pennsylvania Section of the International Dark-Sky Association

You can write to the Pennsylvania Outdoor Lighting Council at:

1438 Shaner Drive, Pottstown, PA 19465.

Or send email to the POLC: polcouncil@polcouncil.org

For a discussion of outdoor lighting issues in Pennsylvania or to subscribe to the PA-LIGHTS email group of the PA LIGHT POLLUTION LISTSERVER, click here: PA-LIGHTS

This site is maintained by: Barry Johnson, a Pennsylvania Outdoor Lighting Council volunteer