Housing News
- SZ may limit glass-wall buildings
Date: 31-Oct-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
SHENZHEN is considering legislating to limit the use of glass walls on buildings to reduce light pollution.
The number of complaints about light pollution has been surging over recent years, according to the municipal environmental protection bureau. Buildings with glass facades and neon lights, major sources of light pollution, are the targets of most complaints.
'We can do nothing since we don't have related laws to refer to when dealing with such complaints,' said a bureau official in charge of handling resident's complaints. 'We have no right to punish people concerned. What we can do is to talk with them. But mostly it will be fruitless.'
Shenzhen's towering glass-walled skyscrapers, while creating a spectacular view, are blamed for worsening light pollution, the bureau said.
The amount of light pollution is rapidly increasing so that darkness is disappearing. Because of road traffic at night and illumination from buildings, natural darkness has disappeared from large parts of the city.
Experts say even moderate exposure to light may affect the health of some people. Variable light disturbs sleep and hormone production and it may even increase exposure to diseases like breast cancer. Exposure to light also does great harm to people's corneas, affects their eyesight and even causes cataracts. The effects of light pollution have so far not been sufficiently studied and only the most obvious adverse effects are known.
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