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."
Of course they do. British criminals aren't allowed to carry weapons.
British Bobbies only carry a night stick...
LOL Sort of nailed Colin in yr first four sentences
“As for your contention that we are the intruders into nature, I totally reject that notion.”
If you are in a natural setting, such as the Everglades, then, yes, we are the intruders, definitely. If you visit an African game reserve, fail to follow the guidelines issued by park officials, and then get eaten by a lion, do you blame the lion? As far as she’s concerned you’re just another morsel for her cubs. The same would apply in the Everglades if you get covered by swarms of insects. It’s not their fault. Moreover, the decision to go there was yours. If you don’t like insects, don’t go to such places and stay at home. As for the insects, in such places, they come with the territory. For my part I’ve lived in places frequented by snakes, scorpions, centipedes, the lot, and didn’t find them a problem.
“As for lighting design, how am I going to provide lighting that won’t attract bugs? They’re literally everywhere. They are going to be drawn to lights, that’s just how they function. And motion sensors are fine for some applications, but not for others. You can’t wire the whole lighting scheme to motion sensors, that’s a ridiculous assumption based on ignorance of people’s needs and wants.”
You’re right, you can’t. But you can design lights that minimise the problem by aiming light downwards so that it doesn’t leak out to where it is not wanted. Most lighting now available does nothing of the sort. That’s why we have light pollution.
Motion sensors are for domestic security lights, which is what most householders want. If all security lights were motion operated we would have less of a problem and I wouldn’t be complaining. Granted there will be the need for non-motion operated lighting in work-stations, etc where people are going to be working all night. Motion operated lighting in these situations would not be appropriate. Nevertheless, the lighting can be designed in such a way that it only goes where it is needed, and no-where else. That should be part of your job-description as a lighting designer.
“As for being responsible, do you think people are generally stupid? I’m not trying to be rude, but really- do you feel it’s your duty to inform everyone else of what they may or may not do with their own money on their own property?”
There was a time when I respected elected officials in local government, and that they commanded a certain degree of authority. Unfortunately, due to my encounters with such people I found the level of ignorance and arrogance absolutely appalling. We get situations where a street lighting department can hang a street light outside your home without some much as a by-your-leave, and all under the pretext of safety and security. I resent that. They adopt the attitude that we all need street lights. Sorry. We don’t. Street lighting however can be construed as useful in urban, and some suburban situations, but what are worse are the crass public art projects that deliberately inject light into the night sky. I’ve been personally involved in killing off a number of these civic vanity projects, with considerable public support, and all of these were sanctioned by ignorant, arrogant morons in local government intent on an ego trip. In each case the savings to the public exchequer amounted to hundreds of thousands.
I think I credit householders with a certain amount of intelligence, and if all lighting intended for exterior use was motion operated then you reduce the risks of neighbour disputes, which from personal experience, can be quite ugly. If you really have any concern for your fellow man, you wouldn’t want to peddle merchandise that can precipitate these problems. For most domestic purposes, motion operated lighting is all that is needed, and where it isn’t, sky-friendly screened lighting is available. You should be promoting that, and phasing out lighting that is inappropriate. Once all lighting is sky-friendly, the customer is still free to choose what suits his needs. And he/she will do so knowing its environmental impact will be minimal.
I’m honoured by your invitation to compete against you, but no thanks. I’m an academic, without any business acumen, and the business world is not for me. So long as I make enough money to support my family I’m happy.
Perhaps a case could be made connecting blind men and pointy breasts...
Cool, glad to know I’m doing my part for our little exoskeletal friends. My luminescent instruments of mass murder don’t seem so bad now, thanks. I was having trouble sleeping.
For urban lighting to strengthen an insect population by weeding out those attracted to lights would require mutants in the population that were not attracted to them. Such individuals would be at a survival disadvantage in a natural setting and would already be extinct before lighting could have any effect.
Over 80 per cent of home burglaries occur in daylight. These crimes are most often committed by young men between 16 and 25 years of age.
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/maho/holooucr/holooucr_001.cfm
Most crimes against the elderly were more likely to occur in or near their homes, and to occur in daylight hours.
http://www.nationalinstituteofcorrections.gov/Library/015708
Most home intrusions occur in daylight hours.
http://www.residentialsecurity.com.au/crimestats.html
These numbers indicate that more juvenile crimes occur by day than by night.
http://www.nyls.edu/pages/2831.asp
Most crime, especially domestic break-ins, occur in daylight, proving that light can aid criminals.
The Association of British Insurers do not recommend outdoor lighting as a crime deterrent. Indeed, insurance companies do not offer a reduction in your premiums if you have “security” floodlights, due to the lack of evidence to suggest that lighting reduces crime.
Measures such as CCTV, increased street lighting and longer custodial sentences were judged in the report to have been expensive failures, with only a few exceptions.”
When lighting was increased in Chicago “...there was a 21 percent increase in reported evening incidents that occurred in alleys”
…. And so on….
Bjornskau, Fosser, and Sagberg (1999) report that when drivers feel safer through improved street lighting they gain a sense of false confidence. They no longer drive according to the conditions. The seem to think that because lighting gives them increased visibility, they can drive faster with reduced concentration. Any perceived advantage of having street lighting is therefore nullified and the incidence of accidents in illuminated areas may well increase. Street lighting, therefore, does not necessarily improve road safety, and may actually make it worse.
“Your heavy use of the I pronoun is consistent with a high level of vanity. Vanity always occurs with envy. They are related mental processes. Leftism is the politics of resentment and you have the disease.”
Vane about what? I have nothing to boast about. Envious of whom? I’ve nothing about which to feel envious. And what do you know about my political opinions? Just because I am concerned about the environment, does that make me a raving Marxist or tree-hugger? I have seen what the problems are and I just want to convince people of the solution. If you are not to blind, the evidence it out there for all to see.
That remark takes the biscuit!
“That said, there are some lighting applications that have no useful purpose other than ambience and beauty. Architectural highlights, landscape elements, sculpture, etc. are all legitimate subjects for a good lighting designer.
I know this is probably sending you into a panic, living with the knowledge that people are spending their own hard earned money on nothing more than pretty lights around their own homes, but there you have it. It happens.”
Yes, it happens, but fortunately for most people outdoor lighting goes no further than installing a security light. This is fine if it is motion operated. Just because people are free to install all manner of crass decorative lighting does not make it right. Blatant energy wastage for whatever reason is not acceptable in the current climate of concern about climate change and environmental degradation, so unnecessary outdoor lighting should be discouraged. They should not be installing anything above and beyond what they need. And they don’t need decorative lighting. Furthermore though they might think it looks nice, their neighbours may actually think differently.
“As for your line of work as an academic, let me suggest that you’re laboring under a very skewed sense of reality. Sitting in a classroom is all fine and well for book knowledge, but real education and application takes place after the dismissal bell rings.”
Don’t think that because I’m an academic I don’t have any sense of reality. I’ve lived and worked in the real world so I know exactly what it’s like.
Are you an astronomer? Why didn’t you state your special interest instead of coming off like a raving socialist micro-tyrant? Leftists hijack issues to mask their envy motivated intentions and that’s where I thought you were coming from.
Holding that opinion is all fine and well, as long as you don't advocate that government enforce such measures. People making a free choice for their various reasons is wonderful. Using government force to control otherwise free people, which is where this kind of thinking ultimately leads, is evil.
If your arguments have merit, they will be supported and echoed in the court of public opinion and reflected in a free market. I welcome all opinions and ideas to that forum, devoid of government force.
Will this effect knife attacks?
I've got a better idea. Instead of trying to force your Marxist BS on the rest of society, YOU crouch at your dung fire near your mud hut and "shut up."
Meanwhile the rest of us can continue to enjoy what passes for civilization in relative peace.
Go live in North Korea. If you look at a night time satellite map you can see they have almost no light pollution. A "man" like you could do quite well filling his belly with grass and tree bark, just like the locals.
And best of all you can live under benevolent Marxists, just like you!
Don't try to catch a falling knife.
yitbos
I'm shocked! /SARC
So long as I make enough money to support my family I’m happy.
No. We must take away your money for the common good.
I see you've bought into the bug haters' propaganda. Get back to me when you've researched things a little more deeply and with a little more independence of mind.
Grass and tree bark is underrated. Don’t knock it til you try it.
Just make sure you’re using a good recipe. I hear the comparative smell of kimchi makes a yard clipping salad almost tolerable.
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