Posted on 02/11/2008 12:29:44 AM PST by bruinbirdman
Street lights in suburban areas are to be switched off after midnight as part of council plans to save energy.
A series of trial blackouts will be carried out over the next few weeks by local authorities in the Home Counties, Hampshire and Essex among others.
Buckinghamshire council is reported to be switching off more than 1,700 lights along 25 miles of road in an attempt to meet energy targets.
It says the scheme will save £100,000 and reduce CO2 emissions by nearly 600 tons a year.
If the trials are successful, all street lamps across the country could be turned off between midnight and 5am.
Other areas taking part in the scheme include Maldon and Uttlesford in Essex, while parts of Hampshire have already carried out pilots.
Residents' groups, police organisations and motoring groups have expressed fear that the darkness could cause increases in crime and road traffic accidents.
A spokesman for the Local Government Association said: "The councils are considering these schemes to both reduce their energy budget and cut down on emissions.
"Areas where street lights will be turned off will be on routes there is little need for them."
Make people shut off the heat and lights in their houses, too. That will help even more.
Will they also *roll up the sidewalks*?
Last one out, make sure the door is locked.
And Al Gore makes you ALL idiots?.
I agree with you on this, but a pilot scheme in a few towns dosent make us idiots.
Well, not yet...lol
The Olympic charter precludes any athlete from indulging in politics.
We (’we’?...its an athletic decision, and most Brits cant give a toss about athletics now after years of scandals) are hardly ‘surrendering’,just enforcing said ‘doctrine’.
Mate, you dont get arrested for self defence here.
What the controversy was police and courts cracking down on those who defended their homes against burglars etc, claiming in small handful of cases (i might add), that excessive force was used in terms of self-defence.
Such was the 1990’s/2000’s backlash, that the law had been clarified and refined by the Govt to allow people and houseowners the fullest measure of legitimate self-defence.
Most of the opinions expressed on this web-site re the curfew on lighting are pitiful, to put it mildly. They show a blatant disregard for the environment, and those responsible for such opinions are part of the problem.
Let’s get one thing straight. Lighting does not reduce crime. This has been well established over the past few years, yet people persist in installing more and brighter lighting in the mistaken belief that it will help. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most crime occurs in daylight, ergo criminals need light. If you expand lighting, then you will encourage people to behave at night more as they would do during the day. If lighting stops crime, explain why it is that during power cuts, criminality drops to zero?
I’m not against lighting, but it must only be used sparingly, on a needs must basis; when needed, where needed, and in the correct amounts. Street lighting where deemed necessary should be full cut-off or better, and all security lighting should be motion operated. On minor suburban roads street lighting should be subject to an 11p.m. till dawn curfew, and not switched on again until the following night. Decorative lighting that does not serve any useful purpose should not be tolerated.
So how do we guarantee safety on our streets? There are methods of making roads safer without naive recourse to street lighting - cat’s eyes, reflective paints, and baffles on motorway reservations rank high on the list.
Two thirds of all street lighting could (and probably should) be eliminated without any serious effect.
So what are the benefits of reduced lighting? First and foremost we regain our night. Living things need darkness in order to function normally, and the orange fog that currently pervades our cities prevents them from getting it. Lights attract insects, so our cities have been sucking them up for decades, like a vacuum cleaner. Consequently the country has become increasingly sterile. So what you might ask? Well, any decline in insects will have a concomitant effect on higher order consumers, and because of this we are now seeing serious declines in spiders, amphibians, reptiles, common birds and small mammals. If that does not concern you then go on as before, but the environment will pay you back anyway, with compounded interest.
Insects also pollinate plants, so the decline of insects is important because it will ultimately affect crop production. Reduced plant diversity will exacerbate the already declining insect population, making the situation worse.
Increased lighting levels also affect humans. It suppresses melatonin secretion by the pineal gland. Melatonin is also an anti-oxidant that suppresses cancer, and this has lead to increased levels of breast and prostate cancer in illuminated areas. This is backed up by the fact that blind women rarely get breast cancer.
Satellite imagery of the Earth at night that became available during the mid 1990’s revealed the lights of thousands of cities world-wide, cooking the atmosphere all night, three hundred and sixty nights a year, year in, year out. It is no longer possible to deny that this is having an effect on global warming, and this is not taking into consideration the carbon dioxide emissions produced from the fuel used to keep them going.
So to conclude, all this excessive lighting is detrimental not only to the environment, but to ourselves. Darkness is normal at night, and the sooner we realise that fact, the better. These curfews are coming because they are an absolute necessity, so the nay-sayers should put up and shut up.
I’m a professional lighting designer, and you’re wrong.
You’re referring to information that’s been put forth with an obvious agenda other than crime prevention. Over and over, police departments across the nation (The US, mind you) consistently recommend two things for improved home security and residential crime prevention: a good lighting plan and a good watchdog.
Here are some references:
http://www.iesna.org/
http://www.cpted-watch.com/
http://www.leepac.org/
http://www.thecptedpage.wsu.edu/Resources.html
http://www.defensiblespace.com/book.htm
http://www.cptedsecurity.com/
Lights attract insects, so our cities have been sucking them up for decades, like a vacuum cleaner. Consequently the country has become increasingly sterile. So what you might ask? Well, any decline in insects will have a concomitant effect on higher order consumers, and because of this we are now seeing serious declines in spiders, amphibians, reptiles, common birds and small mammals.
As if city lights pull all the country insects toward the lethal concrete jungle where the self-destructive humans live , like a giant bug zapper? And when this happens, there aren't any left in the countryside, they've all come to the city to meet their doom.
I can't tell you how totally silly this sounds. Do you have any idea how many offspring a single insect can produce? Let a bucket of standing water persist for a while, and the mosquitoes will carry you off and mug you in the woods.
I live way out in the country on a small Alabama farm. There is no lack of insects here! There is no lack of small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and assorted wildlife. In fact, if city lights would attract the bugs out of here I'd be forever grateful, as would my garden and corn patch, peach and pecan trees, and assorted plants.
Where did you study entomology, by the way? At the school I teach at, we have a very vigorous entomology department. I'm sure they'll be very interested in you bug lighting theory!
That will make conditions unsafe for burglars. Expect lawsuits...
Someone had to hunt three months back to find a thread that suited his agenda?
yitbos
I think Colin just discovered the formidable anti-BS filter that is Free Republic. Just ask Dan Rather how it works, Colin. He’ll absently mumble something about swiftboats and Cambodia, as he wallows in his irrelevance.
You can’t just get on here and post whatever you want. We have experts on any number of subject who just may be browsing around.
Perhaps "pro-bug guy" is "shadow lurker guy" (anti nite lite) who needed three months to compose his "diatribe of darkness" since it is his one and only FReepost.
yitbos
We'll trade you Al Gore for two Spice Girls and one Range Rover!
Streetlights have no effect on crime or traffic safety.
There’s only one good reason for turning British streetlights off at midnight. Per The Reverend Mr. Dodgson:
The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright —
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.
The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was done —
‘It’s very rude of him.’ she said,
‘To come and spoil the fun!’
LOL
No thanks. We’ll keep cute Baby Spice and sexy Mel B, so you’d only end up with Posh, Sporty and Geri Halliwell.
Actually to be fair, Sporty is decent looking and Geri is nice, and you already have Posh.
Actually forget a swap, just bury Al somewhere and send Posh to Gitmo...lol.Keep David, he is an ok bloke and he actually has talent unlike his wife..lol
The police are not experts on the subject of lighting, and only advise on the back of the general fear of crime which is understandable. But it is becoming increasingly obvious that blanket illumination does not deter crime and may actually encourage it. The most intensively illuminated neighbourhoods are often the most dangerous. Crime has been seen to increase in neighbourhoods that did not have lighting after lighting was introduced. People will therefore be safer under a blanket of darkness. Furthermore, most crime occurs in daylight, ergo criminals need light. If you don’t give it to them, they are forced to bring their own, making them easier to detect. Motion operated security lighting may be a deterrent if applied judiciously. As a lighting designer you should incorporate these environmental concerns into your products, and not produce or apply lighting that is counter productive.
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