"You're just being a smartass."
True, but again, I said reduce the number of nightlights by 50%, not 100%. Overlighting areas is a huge waste of resources, not to mention, the enhancement of foreign oil dependence. I am willing to be slightly less secure if it will reduce this dependence.
Big difference between "overlighting" and being in the dark. I will certainly agree there are many places where lighting could be cut back with no appreciable loss of security.
You keep mentioning foreign oil. How do you figure using less electricity saves much oil? My power supplier is Duke Energy, one of the largest in the US. They also supply power in South America. They generate electricity from nuclear, coal-fired, oil- and natural gas-fired, and hydroelectric power plants. Cutting off some lights, even across the country, will have only a very tiny impact in oil usage I would think. Energy efficiency of any sort is good, but I think other big changes will need to be made to reduce and/or eliminate foreign oil dependence. The biggest will be drilling for our own oil.