Pennsylvania Outdoor Lighting Council

The Pennsylvania Outdoor Lighting Council provides advice on solving the problems of glare, light trespass, energy waste, 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.
Free Workshop: Outdoor-Lighting Planning Issues for Municipalities:  The Pennsylvania Outdoor Lighting Council invites you to join us for an informative program for municipalities, planners and interested citizens. Among the subjects covered will be how to recognize good outdoor lighting when you see it and how to make it happen in your municipality through an effective lighting ordinance. Over 35 Pennsylvania municipalities have enacted a lighting ordinance based on the POLC model. This free program, the 11th in our series, will be held for municipalities in Lebanon, Dauphin and surrounding counties. Refreshments will be served.     Click here for event flyer, registration form, map and directions.

Location:Hummelstown, Dauphin County
Date:Wednesday, March 31, 2010, 7pm-8:30pm
Place:Lower Dauphin Middle School
Address:251 Quarry Rd. Hummelstown, PA 17036
In partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the POLC conducted outdoor lighting workshops for municipal officials in the following Pennsylvania counties:
- Southern Chester County, May, 2009 - Lancaster County, April, 2009
- Potter County, June, 2008 - Bucks County, March, 2007
- Lehigh County, May, 2008 - Montgomery County, March, 2006
- Berks County, April, 2008 - Berks County, March, 2002
- Chester County, October, 2007 - Delaware County, August, 2001

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 latest model ordinances along with some existing outdoor lighting ordinances in Pennsylvania.
NEWS:  The POLC Outdoor Lighting Toolkit for Homeowners is available now. Download it. (pdf)

Outdoor Lighting and Light Pollution Links:

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

To send an e-mail to POLC click here or address to polcouncil@polcouncil.org

You can write to the Pennsylvania Outdoor Lighting Council at:

1438 Shaner Drive, Pottstown, PA 19465.

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