Anyone who has driven out past the Grand Junction city lights toward the Colorado National Monument or the Book Cliffs knows the reward: a sky full of stars you just cannot see from a parking lot. That dark sky is one of Western Colorado’s quiet luxuries. It is also disappearing a little more every year, and the reason is the same thing we spend our days trying to fix at Atlasta: wasted energy.
We are a solar company, so we think a lot about where energy comes from. But energy you generate cleanly and then throw away is still wasted. A surprising amount of it gets thrown straight up into the night sky.
The light we pay for and never use
Light pollution is not just an astronomy problem. It is an energy problem with a price tag.
According to DarkSky International, at least 30 percent of all outdoor lighting in the United States is wasted, mostly from fixtures that are unshielded and spill light sideways and upward instead of down where people actually need it. That waste adds up to roughly $3.3 billion and about 21 million tons of carbon dioxide every year. That is energy generated, paid for, and sent uselessly into space.
Picture a streetlight or a barn light with a bare bulb. Some of that light hits the ground. A lot of it does not. The part that escapes into the sky is what washes out the stars, and it is also money leaving your utility account for nothing in return.
Why a solar company cares about lighting
It might seem odd for a solar installer to talk about turning lights down. But it fits how we think about energy on the Western Slope: produce it cleanly, then use every bit of it well.
Solar handles the first half. Panels on your roof turn Colorado’s abundant sunshine into clean power during the day, and pairing them with battery storage lets you carry some of that power into the evening. The second half is not wasting what you generate. Well-aimed, right-sized outdoor lighting means the energy your system produces goes toward lighting your home and property, not the underside of the clouds.
Done together, the two ideas reinforce each other. Cleaner power, less waste, lower bills, and a darker sky overhead. That is a good night’s work for the Grand Valley.
A local effort worth knowing about
We are not the only ones in the area thinking this way. DarkSky GJ is a Grand Junction nonprofit working to reduce light pollution, save energy, and keep the stars visible across the Grand Valley.
Their work shows how directly this connects to the bottom line. DarkSky GJ reports that dark-sky friendly lighting upgrades at Lincoln Park are projected to save around $25,000 a year. That is the same logic behind a good solar project: a smarter setup pays for itself and keeps paying. They also work on public education, wildlife protection, and the simple goal of making sure the next generation in the Grand Valley grows up able to see the Milky Way.
We think that mission lines up well with ours, and we would encourage anyone curious about the night sky to learn more about what they do.
What you can do at home
You do not need a telescope or a big budget to be part of this. A few simple choices make your property more efficient and more night-sky friendly at the same time:
- Pair efficiency with solar. When your home runs on clean power and wastes less of it after dark, your system stretches further.
- Aim light down. Use shielded or fully cutoff fixtures that point light at the ground, not sideways or up.
- Use only the light you need. Brighter is not safer. Glare actually makes it harder to see. Choose modest brightness levels.
- Warm it up. Warmer color temperatures (around 2700K or lower) are easier on your eyes, on wildlife, and on the sky than harsh blue-white light.
- Put lights on timers or motion sensors. Light that turns on when you need it and off when you do not is the cheapest light there is.