From Harbour Lights to Star Island Nights: Our Third Partner Meeting in Germany

💡 At the NPorts harbour in Norddeich, we visited our demonstrator site. Here, the new lighting concept is based on NPorts' company guideline for environmentally friendly and uniform lighting. As part of DARKER SKY and in collaboration with the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park Authority, the existing conversion plan was optimized from an ecological perspective. The new lighting aims not only to meet legal and occupational safety requirements but also to reduce light emissions and environmental impact as much as possible. Lighting will soon be converted to LED technology, with a demand-oriented and intelligent control system implemented.
 

🌠 On our second day, we visited the Star Island Spiekeroog. This island in the Wadden Sea is one of the darkest places in Germany, with sky brightness values of 22 mag/arcsec². As a certified Dark Sky Community, Spiekeroog aims to serve as a model for other communities in the region, demonstrating how to reduce light pollution and creating a space where people and nature can sustainably coexist. The former mayor, the National Park Authority, and the island’s tourism company welcomed us and shared the inspiring story of how the island achieved its Dark Sky certification, reduced light emissions and promotes sustainable dark sky tourism.

Along with these insightful excursions, we exchanged updates on ongoing project progress, brainstormed future outputs and planned our mid-term event, scheduled for March 2025 (more information coming soon!).

Thanks to Niedersachsen Ports GmbH & Co. KG, Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park Authority, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Common Wadden Sea Secretariat and Nordseebad Spiekeroog GmbH for organising the meeting and hosting us!