Category Archives: Compositions

Publication of EU GPP criteria for road lighting and traffic signals

Compositions

In the context of the European collaborations that we manage via the BuioMetria Partecipativa project, in 2017 we started to follow a working group concerning the update of the Green Public Procurement guidelines for road lighting and traffic signals.

This group is coordinated by the Joint Research Centre (from its Sevilla, Spain, facility), and in the past 18 months is saw the active presence of several of the light pollution experts we know, together with experts from other domains.

Two days ago through the working group’s mailing list we had news that the results of the activity are available. Please see below the announcement. For more information: bmp@pibinko.org

We are delighted to announce that the EU Green Public Procurement (GPP) criteria for road lighting and traffic signals have been published.

Although lighting systems in general are great examples of potential win-win scenarios for the environment and public budgets, the setting of appropriately ambitious criteria for energy efficiency and durability has been a particular challenge due to the rapidly evolving nature of LED technology. Thanks to detailed input from some of you, including an in-depth analysis of the LightingFacts database using data from the last 6-7 years, it has been possible to present a tiered approach to minimum luminaire efficacy requirements in EU GPP criteria for the next 6 years.

A novel and ambitious approach towards tackling the issue of light pollution has been taken, with requirements on both upward light output ratios and blue light emission being set. The emission of blue light is a particular concern with some LED lighting products and we are pleased to be able to promote a specially tailored metric for blue light (the G-index) which is much more precise and reliable than the commonly used CCT metric. We must say that this was only possible thanks to the previous work of a dedicated group of stakeholders on this particular matter, so a special thanks to those of you involved in the light pollution criteria.

We also have tried to emphasise the importance of durability aspects with LED lighting and to try to shed light (pun intended) on the general misconception that all LED lighting products have excellent durability. There are different quality specifications for different LED chips and durability depends a lot on the quality of the electrical components and appropriate luminaire design, not just on the lamp itself. In line with circular economy principles we are promoting more durable and recyclable products that are correctly labelled to aid in their future replacement, upgrading or disposal.

An excerpt from the presentation of the new criteria, highlighting the combined benefits of LED dimming.

For more information

Feb. 7, 2019 branobag: have a coffe break thinking about that dress

Branobag, branobags, Compositions

[first edition, Aug. 17, 2012. The Italian version of this post has a lot more context explaining the title. The 2019 edition has a first pass on an Italian cover for the song, as a work in progress by the Metalliferous Hills Jug Band]


Old enough / Matura

You look pretty in your fancy dress | Con quel vestito sembri un bel bijoux
But I detect unhappiness | Pero’ mi pare che tu sia un po’ giu’
You never speak so I have to guess | Te ne stai zitta e io ti dico: “su’”
You’re not free. | …non sei li-i-i-bera…

There, maybe when you’re old enough | Ehi, quando poi sarai matura
You’ll realize you’re not so tough | Scoprirai che non sei una dura
And some days the seas get rough | Col mare grosso non sarai sicura
And you’ll see | vedra-a-a-i

You’re too young to have it figured out | Sei una bimbetta, non ci hai ragionato
You think you know what you’re talking about | Credi di sapere del futuro e del passato
You think it will all work itself out | Credi che alla fine sara’ tutto aggiustato
But we’ll see | ma chi sa-a-a

When I was young I thought I knew | Da giovane ero sicuro di me
You probably think you know too | probabilmente lo sei anche te
Do you? Well do you? | lo dici te…lo dici te..
I was naïve just like you | ero ingenuo, come te
I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do | pensavo di sapere che fare di me
Well, what’s you gonna do? | be’, ora dillo te!

And how have you gotten by so far | e come hai fatto ad arrivare sin qua
Without having a visible scar? | senza nemmeno una fe-rita?
No one knows who you really are | nessuno sa chi sei in verita’
They can’t see | non lo ve-e-e-dono

What’s you gonna do (what’s you gonna do) | ora che farai (ora che farai)
What’s you gonna do now | o-o-ra
What’s you gonna do (what’s you gonna do)
What’s you gonna do now
What’s you gonna do (what’s you gonna do)
What’s you gonna do now
What’s you gonna do (what’s you gonna do)
What’s you gonna do now
What’s you gonna do now

The only way you’ll ever learn a thing | il solo modo per imparare
Is to admit that you know absolutely nothing | e’ ammettere di ignorare – tutto
Oh nothing | oh, tutto
Think about this carefully | tieni questo bene a mente
You might not get another chance to speak freely | potresti non poter riparlare liberamente
Oh freely | liberamente

Maybe when you’re old enough | forse quando sei matura
Maybe when you’re old enough
Maybe when you’re old enough
You’re not free | non sei li-i-bera
You’re not free

Darkness Conference at the Svalbard Islands, Jan. 15/16 2019: how did it go?

Compositions, Senza categoria

by Luciano Massetti – CNR IBIMET Firenze (l.massetti@ibimet.cnr.it)

DARKNESS was the topic discussed during the full arctic night in Longyearbyen, the northernmost city of the world (latitude ~ 78° N), in the Svalbard Islands, North of Norway.

Foto: Luisa del Giudice

The conference had over 90 experts from 22 countries, dealing with the topic of darkness from multiple angles.

Foto: Luciano Massetti

Luciano Massetti presented the joint activities conducted by CNR IBIMET in collaboration with the Department of Biology from the University of Pisa and the BuioMetria Partecipativa project.


Monte Argentario, Tuscany

Compositions

On Fridaty, Jan. 18, 2019 I attended a public meeting organized by the Municipality of Monte Argentario, where experts were invited to discuss various issues related to the design and management of future construction and renovation projects.

Some thirty people were present. I provided a presentation of the BuioMetria Partecipativa services on light and darkness.

Here we go with a new edition of the “branobag” article series

Branobag, branobags, Compositions

TO BE TRANSLATED – this is to present a new version of the now historical “branobag” article series, with one song each day. The series is maintained only in Italian, so you may switch to the Italian version of the site and find all the songs using the branobag category

Momenti di una partita di palla a 21 (Piloni, settembre 2018).

“Chi di voi non ricorda di Dik Dik?” disse il pianobarista la sera della cena del torneo di palla a 21 a Scalvaia 5-6 anni fa. E Fabione gli rispose, in mezzo a 120 persone: “mi sa te!“, dato che nell’ora precedente l’artista si era esibito in una serie di pezzi tutti molto famosi e alltugederevribodi, ma suonati non proprio bene. Per capirsi: sembrava Rocco Tanica quando fa i pezzi un po’ con la metrica a caso e le stonature di un semitono, con la differenza che Rocco Tanica fa apposta, mentre il pianobarista della cena di Scalvaia no.

Dunque, la musica è importante per molti di noi, ma l’effetto che la musica ha su di noi cambia sia in funzione di chi la propone che del contesto. Quello che doveva essere un tappeto musicale un po’ lounge per allietare la conversazione di una cena di paese è diventato un tormento.

Ragionando sul senso della musica per me, nel 2011 ho iniziato a condividere con un pubblico aperto un esercizio che avevo iniziato già nel 2000 in circoli di colleghi e amici, cioè far ascoltare musica spiegandola secondo me e accostandoci altri elementi affini.

Questa idea si è gradualmente strutturata in una rubrica pubblicata tramite blog, che ha avuto varie serie, come spiegato in questa pagina. Può anche essere utile vedere la sezione “Musica e poesia” di pibinko.org per capire meglio il contesto.

Il logo dei branobag di pibinko.org

La cosa ha un suo seguito, e via via incontro persone che chiedono quando ricominciano i brano bag. Con il 2019, ho deciso di fare un piccolo sforzo editoriale e ripubblicare gli episodi branobag usciti finora sul nuovo sito di pibinko.org. Seguendo lo schema “dal lunedì al venerdì” l’operazione dovrebbe coprire buona parte dell’anno in corso, e sarà l’occasione per riascoltare, rileggere e rivedere brani, testi e immagini che molti avranno scordato, e molti altri ancora non conoscono. Alla vostra destra, il nuovo logo della rubrica.

I branobag saranno dunque reperibili nella sezione notizie di pibinko.org, con il tag branobag.

Ma perché i branobag si chiamano così?

Per ulteriori informazioni: info@pibinko.org

The BuioMetria Partecipativa project: from the Farma Valley (inner Southern Tuscany) to the HORIZON 2020 programme.

Compositions

The BuioMetria Partecipativa was born in Spring 2008 in the woods of the Farma Valley, in Southern Tuscany (half way between Siena and Grosseto). While the project as a “local” approach among its priorities, since its first steps it was aiming at national and international connections:

  • Since 2008 the project managed several international relations. Part of these are documented at http://www.pibinko.org/places
  • Between 2009 and 2011 the progress of the project was presented in the main European event concerning night sky protection and promotion of night sky (the IDA Symposium)
  • Between 2013 and 2016 the BuioMetria Partecipativa project represented Italy in the management committee of a European research network funded by the COST programme of the European Union (the Loss of the Night Network), together with some 18 countries, and with about 40 participating organisations. In the context of this project we also promoted Tuscany as the location for one of the sensor intercomparison campaigns and one of the network meetings (in collaboration with CNR IBIMET). This was in March 2015, and was covered by national media (Radio 24).
  • Between 2017 and 2018, BuioMetria Partecipativa had a small grant from the Stars4all HORIZON 2020 project. Thanks to this, we were able to launch events in addition to those that we routinely manage. We also promoted the co-funding of an International symposium on the protection and the promotion of night sky . This was held on the island of Capraia in September 2018 and represented, as far as we know, the first event of this type held in Italy, at least since 2008.

On December 10 and 11, 2018, the final meeting of the Stars4all project was held in Madrid, Spain. The project had partners from Spain, Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium, and Italy. In this context, Andrea Giacomelli presented a summary of the main activities conducted during the past two years, especially in collaboration with the communities of Torniella, Piloni, Scalvaia, the National Research Council’s Institute of Biometeorology, the University of Pisa and the professional photographer Federico Giussani.

A 59-second presentation of BuioMetria Partecipativa in 2018-2020: whatever it was before, plus live music performed by project members in professional venues, with the Metalliferous Hills Jug Band (video courtesy of Dácil Muñoz, Stars4all project)

The Madrid meeting, which BMP coupled with an independently organised outreach event on the evening of Dec. 11, was just before the third Farma Valley Winter Fest and the annual assembly of the Tuscan Amateur Astronomer Associations. Our presence in Spain was the opportunity to launch some initiatives which took place in Tuscany at the end of Fall 2018, and to announce a line of activity which we will work on between February and mid-June 2019.

BMP highlights from day 1 of the Stars4all meeting

The presentation of outreach services on lighting and darkness, and of the report on ten years of digital social innovation in the Farma Valley on Langscape magazine.


The presentation of the annual assembly of the Tuscan Amateur Astronomer Association Network in the context of the Third Farma Valley Winter Fest.

Tasting the bread made by Wolfgang Scheibe in Tatti (Southern Tuscany) during the light lunch break.

For more information on the BuioMetria Partecipativa project, write to bmp@pibinko.org


Third Farma Valley Winter Fest: Day 3 and Epilogue

Compositions,

TO BE TRANSLATED

La terza giornata del Festival è stata tutto sommato defaticante rispetto alla seconda.

Un momento del convegno del Coordinamento associazioni astrofile della Toscana

Abbiamo avuto la presenza di quattordici delegati del Coordinamento Associazioni Astrofile della Toscana, cui abbiamo avuto modo di presentare alcuni colleghi che non conoscevano, come il presidente della AAT (Associazione Astrofili di Torniella), il presidente della AAPB (Associazione Astrofili di Piloni-Bali), il presidente della AAS (Associazione Astrofili dei Sodarini) e altri presidenti.

Il convegno è stato comunque molto interessante, oltre che per i contenuti tecnici, integrati quest’anno dalla presenza di Luciano Massetti del CNR IBIMET di Firenze, anche per alcune considerazioni sulla relazione fra scienza e società che sono emerse nella discussione….da approfondire meglio (possibilmente nella relazione sul festival).

Pici tra amici.

Dopo il pranzo sociale presso la sede dell’AARCIB(Associazione Astrofili Ristorante Camere Il Boscaiolo), con annessi pici cacio e pepe, il digestivo è stato preso durante la dimostrazione di costruzione della pallina di Palla a 21 a cura di Ilo Ferrandi.

Ilo Ferrandi (a sinistra di spalle), costruttore della pallina del 21…per un giorno costruttore di asteroidi. 

Si è deciso successivamente di annullare la visita alla B.M. lavorazioni meccaniche (uno dei due titolari, Alessandro Bartalucci, ha comunque interagito con i partecipanti), andando a svolgere l’assemblea CAAT con chiusura attorno alle 17.30 con una piccola jam session musicale. La cosa è stata facilitata dal fatto che il convegno si teneva nella sala musica dell’Associazione Filarmonica Popolare Torniella, e che essendo il ritrovo di piccole dimensioni, non era stato necessario levare la batteria per svolgere l’evento.

Mauro Bachini, presidente CAAT, con una Eko X27 degli anni ’60 (proprietà Fam. Giacomelli) durante la jam session di fine convegno.

Salutati i delegati del CAAT sotto un nevischio incipiente (fortunatamente girato “a pioggia” dopo poco), due degli organizzatori, assieme ad altri paesani, sono andati a visitare l’antica bottega del falegname di Roberto Serragli a Scalvaia.

Antichi mestieri e remoti saperi a Scalvaia

Nel corso delle prossime settimane sarà preparato un rapporto sul festival. Nel frattempo: per dubbi o domande sui tre giorni di pici, amore e musica (e cultura, ambiente e innovazione libera) in Val di Farma: info@pibinko.org

Epilogo (temporaneo)

Momento di rilassamento post-festival a Scalvaia (fuori campo un gradevole focherello), o troppi pici a pranzo? – Foto di Sonia Masini