The Mayland Community College Blue Ridge Observatory and Star Park is the first whose outdoor lighting consists entirely of fully-shielded, low-color-temperature light emitting diode (LED) fixtures at the time the IDA award was conferred.

Jon Wilmesherr, MCC Director of Learning Resources Center and Distance Education who led the effort to secure the IDA award, is optimistic that the Star Park will serve as a model for land management by other colleges and universities.

“I hope other educational institutions will consider the benefits of sponsoring an IDA star park, where the demonstration of lighting conservation can lead visitors to a better understanding of the urgent need for the preservation of the natural night sky,” Wilmesherr said.

Wilmesherr retrofitted all the existing outdoor lighting at the park with new state-of-the-art Cree LED light bulbs. Cree is a North Carolina company with headquarters in Durham.

“The lights fit all the optimum specifications for brightness, color temperature, and low wattage,” said Wilmesherr. “Each lamp only uses 6 watts of electricity. We are now able to say this is the first all LED International Dark Sky Park in the world.”

Given the administrative oversight by a single organization and the few artificial lights already on the EnergyXchange campus, converting the entirety of the site’s fixtures to dark-sky-friendly LED was both procedurally straightforward and cost effective.  MCC hopes the Star Park will be seen as a regional leader in the implementation of such novel, energy-efficient lighting technologies at public facilities.