Clervaux Presents Lighting Master Plan

Just in time for the Earth Hour, the town of Clervaux, in collaboration with the Our Natural Park and in the presence of Luxembourg's Minister of Regional Planning, Claude Turmes, presented its new lighting concept on Saturday 27 March 2021.

The starting point for the creation of a light master plan was the participation of the Our Natural Park in an international exchange on the problem of light pollution within the framework of the INTERREG Europe NIGHT LIGHT project. The aim of this project is to actively combat light pollution and increase the value of a naturally dark night sky.

Thanks to the commitment of the Our natural park, the municipality of Clervaux, a member of the natural park, has also become aware of this issue. The cooperation of the international partners of the project made it possible to raise awareness of this issue with a clear strategy and to raise awareness among citizens. It was only thanks to this light that the municipality of Clervaux really became aware of the seriousness of the issue. It was clear that it would not be enough to replace only certain light sources and individual lamps in the outdoor area; instead, it was necessary to create a global concept in order to obtain a lasting effect. The result was a comprehensive lighting master plan.

Initial situation in the commune of Clervaux 

Part of the functional lighting in the commune of Clervaux was obsolete, while the lights themselves were no longer up to date from a design point of view. In areas heavily frequented by pedestrians, lamps with the wrong colour of light and poor colour rendering have frequently been used, which has considerably reduced the quality of stay in these often very characteristic places. Orientation in urban space was also made difficult by a lack of readability and hierarchy in functional lighting.

The current issue of energy efficiency and light pollution has also become increasingly important in recent years. Considerable potential for savings and optimisation existed from an energy point of view, especially in the conversion of conventional light sources into LED modules with optical systems.

Objective of the lighting master plan

The central objective of the lighting master plan, drawn up in October 2018 for the municipality of Clervaux, was to establish a development strategy for functional lighting and accent lighting from the point of view of technology and lighting design. The objective was to create a nocturnal urban landscape that combines aspects of perception, safety and atmosphere as well as environmental concerns:

• Establishment of a coherent, coordinated family of luminaires adapted to the respective urban spaces;
• Reduction of maintenance costs and electricity consumption;
• Significant reduction of light immissions;
• Improvement of the objective and subjective feeling of security;
• Improvement of the quality of the stay.

Another essential aspect was the long-term strengthening of the identity of Clervaux. In addition to the town centre, there is the exceptional location of the Château de Clervaux. These two places have a lasting impact on the city's external image. 

By highlighting the characteristic subspaces that already exist in the nocturnal aspect of the town, the opportunity has arisen to reinforce and consolidate precisely this local identity in the long term.

Implementation of the lighting master plan

Implementation of the new lighting installations began in early 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the work schedule has been delayed somewhat. Nevertheless, some of the new light installations planned are already operational today. For example, the public lighting of the town of Clervaux, the architectural lighting of the castle and the church of Clervaux and the church of Marnach. The architectural lighting for the church in Munshausen is currently on order. The lighting of the churches in Lieler and Weicherdange as well as the conversion of all remaining lampposts are still in the planning phase.

The biggest implementation challenge is to encourage all citizens of the municipality to take action themselves and actively participate in reducing light pollution. The municipality of Clervaux hopes that the implementation of public lighting will encourage citizens to follow the example and that its role as a model will have a productive effect on individual private projects.

Lights off, stars shining!

It is under this motto that the Our and Haute-Sûre natural parks called on residents to turn off the lights in their homes as part of the NIGHT, Light & more festival in order to send a signal for climate protection and preservation of the naturally dark night sky during Earth Hour. The municipality of Clervaux, as a member of the Our Nature Park, also took part in this action by symbolically turning off the lights of the castle, among others.

Festival NIGHT, Light & more 

The “NIGHT, Light & more” festival was born from the INTERREG Europe “NIGHT LIGHT” project. Since January 2017, eight regions from seven European partner countries have joined forces to increase the value of the naturally dark night sky and to actively combat light pollution. The partner regions of the Netherlands, Hungary, Spain, Denmark, Slovenia, Italy and Luxembourg linked together and are in constant contact. For Luxembourg, this is the Our Natural Park, headquartered in Parc Hosingen.

Unlike the “NIGHT LIGHT” project, which focuses on a technical approach to the subject, the “NIGHT, Light & more” festival aims to raise public awareness of the problem of light pollution. After the festival had to be halted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it will now be continued under the current circumstances and possibilities. For details on all the events offered as part of the “NIGHT, Light & more” festival, see www.nightlightandmore.lu.