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US Open Set Up for Dark Sky-Friendly Outdoor Lights by Adithi Ramakrishnan

William Attardi on August 22, 2025

When the court lights flicker on at the U.S. Open, tennis stars shine under illumination designed to cut light pollution.  The U.S. Tennis Association swapped metal halide bulbs for shielded wedge-shaped LED lights. The complex’s 17 tournament courts and five practice courts were approved as dark sky-friendly last year. Most arenas make the change during scheduled maintenance and renovation, working with sports lighting company Musco. The company lights over 3,000 venues a year including college football stadiums, tennis courts and rail yards. US Open Set Up for Dark Sky-Friendly Outdoor Lights – tEDmag

Pickleball & Tennis Court Illumination by U.S. Architectural Lighting

William Attardi on May 2, 2025

U. S. Architectural Lighting recently introduced Baseline – Pickleball & Tennis Court Lighting. Designed specifically for the court, Baseline uses a Type IV CL precision optic designed especially to meet IESNA / USA Pickleball / USTA Standard Performance Criteria for court photometrics. The luminaires distribute uniform light across the court surface without creating hot spots. To minimize glare, the light is directed at a low angle onto the court surface avoiding direct glare into the eyes of the players to prevent discomfort or distractions during play. The Baseline is available in five sizes in wattages from 85W to 550W, with up to four fixtures per pole, in parallel assembly arrangements, allowing a wide range of lumen packages. https://usaltg.com/product/bas/

 

The Statue of Liberty was made with copper but due to oxidation, it turned green.

When the “Lady in the Harbor” first arrived in New York in 1886, she didn’t look like the mint-green icon we know today. In fact, for the first twenty years of her life, she stood as a towering, metallic beacon of reddish-gold. Designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and engineered by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, the statue was a gift from France to America. To build her, Bartholdi chose copper for three practical reasons:

  • Malleability:It could be hammered into elaborate, thin sheets.
  • Weight:Copper is lighter than stone or bronze, making it easier to ship 350 individual pieces across the Atlantic.
  • Durability:It was strong enough to survive a 27-day ocean voyage and the harsh winds of the harbor.

When she was unveiled on October 28, 1886, her skin—made of 300 copper sheets roughly the thickness of two pennies—shone with a bright, metallic brown luster. The transformation from “penny-colored” to “patina-green” wasn’t planned. Bartholdi actually expected the statue to age into a deeper, darker red. However, the unique environment of New York Harbor—a mix of salt air, moisture, and industrial pollution—triggered a process called oxidation.

The Timeline of Change:

  1. 1886–1900:The bright copper dulled into a dark, muddy brown.
  2. 1903:The first hints of a light green crust, or “patina,” began to appear.
  3. 1906:The color change was so controversial that Congress nearly stepped in. They appropriated $62,000 to paint the statue back to its original color, but the public protested, calling the idea “sacrilege.”
  4. 1910–1920:The statue was a patchy mix of brown and green until 1920, when the oxidation was complete, leaving her entirely teal.

While we now view the green color as iconic, it actually serves a vital structural purpose. The layer of verdigris (the green patina) acts as a protective shield. It seals the copper underneath, preventing the metal from further corrosion and weathering.  By the time the color fully changed, a new generation of immigrants had arrived in America seeing a green statue.