Street lighting - switching off in the small hours
Sat, 18/10/2008 - 08:29 — KevK
My Missus saw on the news a few nights ago, about some local councils switching off the street lighting in the early hours in order to save money. Others were considering it too.
Is this something that Aberdeenshire Council should consider if not already doing so?
Thoughts on this anyone?
Kev
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Football theory
Not sure what the outcome might be but I bet there would be great fun during the process.
Eilz
Lighting Thought Experiment
Imagine your team of 6 people has to cross a football field, there is an opposing team who can stop you if they touch you. Both teams can go at any speed.
Will you have a better chance to avoid them if its completely dark, or daylight?
I reckon that I would be able to cross the field only in darkness, when I am undetected as I can't run like a winger!
Light Pollution - Talk/action group Aberdeen
Come along tonight:
http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/acci/we/site/xev_EventDetail.asp?id=1810
Organised by:
http://www.aberdeenearthguard.btik.com/
Make your views on local orgs/businesses wasting energy to the sky.
Interesting reading from someone that knows
Just to add "mad props" for the Sustainable Energy - without the hot air from:
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/sustainable/book/tex/cft.pdf
This is a great, no pulled punches, read on energy (mis)usage.
Its also filled with nice facts like:
My milk and cheese consumption costs 1.5kw/h
Where excellent cycling facilities are provided, people will use them, as evidenced by the infinite number of cycles sitting outside the Enschede railway station.
Heat pumps are superior in effciency to condensing boilers.
There's even a new competitive sport:
http://readyourmeter.org/ <- sign up and beat your neighbours!
Torc
Lights on where they are needed
Ok, first things first, I like to look at the sky, and have a vested interest also in astronomy - as an Aberdeen Astronomical Society member (we meet at the 4th Tues of the month in the Bettridge Centre btw...). Right now that's out of the way, here we go:
Act local, think global - does all of Newtonhill need to be lit up? I personally think not, particularly after 11pm weeknights, and 12.30pm weekends. I've often thought that an average 140kg of Co2 per lighting column per annum is a steep price to pay to light up people's bedrooms and roofs. But I appreciate that junctions, and some central roads may have a justification beyond these hours.
There's loads of stuff available in reputable science journals which will show that there is a possible causal link between lighting and cancer, lighting affecting flora and fauna in a bad way, lighting generating crime, and so on.
I personally think that a light sky is an ill sky, its just plain unsightly and we'd never put up for it during the day.
It would be interesting to ask the people with lights which should be shining onto the ground to tilt them until they do. There's a few really bad in-security lights in Newtonhill like the bute that wastes light down Skateraw Road (so that you get blinded when cycling back uphill from the shop. Or the many hundreds of 'shire lighting columns that waste 40% by not having a flat clear bottom and a reflector that points downwards. I've approached the Council about the bad lights - and quite fairly and reasonably they have explained that they have a budget and will replace with better as and when the budget is there. It has to be said that they have put better lights along St Michaels Road after structural issues forced replacement. But would you react positively if you were asked to tilt your in-security light downward? Or how would you like to be asked?
So, Kev, yes lets ask - but to show that the community is behind us we need to show willing on our side of the fence and reduce the insecurity light trespass.
Anyone else got any other thoughts?
Torc
PS: As a fully signed up non-Anonymous Coward I can be contacted by anyone by coming along to the meeting 8-10pm next Tuesday 28th at the BC.
Lights
It is catching on ...........there was some very "enlightening" stuff about the link to crime in Mels link, but did not manage to get through webmasters ref book in my lunch break, perhaps it will be "light" bedtime reading?
My thought is, will councils spend more than they would ultimately save in switching off the lights, setting up project teams to do the research that will help them decide whether to switch off the lights or not?
Research?
You mean actually read some research on a subject before formulating an opinion? Don't think it will catch on really ;-)
Another subject, but vaguely related book that may be of interest to some (10MB PDF):
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/sustainable/book/tex/cft.pdf
(thanks for the link)
Interesting re Crime
There has been a lot of interest in whether reducing lighting actually increases or decreases crime.
For anyone who's interested, there's a lot of interesting stuff on this page:
http://www.britastro.org/dark-skies/crime.html
Lights
Might give burglers etc somewhere to hide - not sure it would be safe .....
Disgraceful
What's a young girl like you doing out at 2.30 in the morning?
In fact, better not answer that Diane!
Street lighting
Hmmm, depends.............I might not have found my way home without the aid of street lights at 2.30 this morning as I weaved my way along the pavement :-O
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***Wouldn't it be good if.....*** Planning for Real® Newtonhill, Muchalls and Cammachmore