Turn off street lights

[Phil Turner]

Following a recent letter from our local council regarding new street lights, I have written to them to ask why, whats wrong with the old ones and why so many. If you stand in front of our house you can see 5 lamp posts all burning electricity, and whilst Stockport Council insist that CO2 and climate change is at the top of their agenda they still have not replied to my last letter asking why are there so many and what does it take to start an initiative where Street lights are turned off. So I ask everyone for their thoughts and where do I start to campaign for every other street light in the country to be turned off, imagine the saving in energy - and whats the argument against doing it ? I just cant see one as our streets are completely over lit, maybe we can start the ball rolling here

http://www.globalwarmingart.com/images/e/e5/Earth_Lights_from_Space...

[Phil Turner]

Just to add I would like to ask all members of this website - Who do you know that can help, if we can get the uk to turn every other light off what about a worldwide campaign - why not

[Karen Maskall]

Hi Phil

What about having the councils add sensors to the lights so they only come on when someone is walking the streets?And only when its dark. Like the lights people have in their gardens and driveways

I have a feeling that they would be easier to fit instead of trying to break into the circuits to disable every other light maybe?

I'm not sure what the disruption would be for the houses that have the lights switching off and on though. Maybe they have already got blackout curtains anyway.

[Karen Maskall]

I just found this news site about Buckingham councils stand on the matter but there are mounting fears of more crime.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23436692-return-of-the-b...

But if they used the sensors these would alleviate the street crime problem wouldn't it?

[Phil Turner]

I'm not sure sensors would work but if you look at how closely lights are placed to each other or next time you see one thats turned off notice how it doesnt really make that much difference so an initiative to turn every other one off would reduce the energy used and still leave the streets safe. The work to be done as bulbs are replaced or as they are serviced / cleaned. Next time you drive down a main road at nightime think about how much difference it would make.
Cheers
Phil

[Paul Stearman]

Turning off Street Lamps is a contentious issue. Where there is a footpath that pedestrians use, I am in favour of keeping the lights on. People need to see where they are going and what is around them. It is just safer.

Where there is not a footpath and this is a main road etc, the lighting from ones vehicle should be OK.

The obvious reason for turning off the lights is cost. Lamps are expensive to run, they burn out and are expensive to replace and maintain. However, where there is a new installation, serious consideration should be given to new LED Street Lights. They will use about 60w not 250 / 400w and last 50,000 hours or 10 times as long.

[Karen Maskall]

Thats a fantastic energy saving with LED lights Paul. You mention for new installations though. Can the current installations not be converted?

It is a contentious issue because so many people have a sense of security when there is light althought I'm not sure if there are any conclusive studies about the rising crime rates when lights are lessened or switched off. I think most trials are very new so we will just have to wait to see what the outcome is. And anyway it is well known that most crimes are committed in broad daylight right under the very noses of people around them. To commit a crime they don't wear black balaclavas anymore. They just act like a normal person doing normal things and nobody notices a thing until its too late. That's a sign of comminities that do not know their neighbours anymore and wouldn't know if a stranger was taking the furniture out of the house with a van.


It seems like we cater to this mass change of lifestyle where people just don't go to bed before midnight anymore.Many say that dark streets would in effect impose a curfew and people would stay indoors. Isn't indoors the place to be after midnight any more?

[Mamita Bhattacharjee]

At least they can off those lights in Full Moon.I feel so irritated when I can not enjoy beauty of the moon light because of those street lights. I feel like going and breaking them :).

[Karen Maskall]

Are we failing to think about all of the creatures and insects that are being almost driven to extinction?And even I never stopped to think about the affect street lighting would have on our tress.



There are many articles on the web like this which I found on the site Campaign for Darker Skies

The Threat to wildlife

"Many birds and animals are affected by stray light intruding into their night world (e.g. abstracts from the Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting conference), confusing their natural patterns, deterring them from established foraging areas, and affecting their breeding cycles (causing premature breeding).
This is not just limited to urban areas; the detrimental effect of light pollution penertrates deep into the heart of our rural landscape."
Please visit the sight to read the whole article...http://www.britastro.org/dark-skies/wildlife.html
# The effect on mammals
# The effect on birds
# The effect on insects
# The effect on trees

I dont think its a case of switching every other light of anymore Phil. I think we have to blackout at midnight and get ourselves safely and snuggly into our beds. It would also stop a lot of this late night binge drinking that is happening too. I think more people are afraid of the drunks on the streets than other criminals.

[Phil Turner]

The more I look into this the more I realise its not a stupid suggestion, if the government is serious about what they are spouting then there seems to be very little of it turning into action - once again its all hot air! My local council offices are lit up like a christmas tree, yet I have it in writing from the council:

"I can assure you that the Council do indeed take carbon emissions very seriously and have been actively engaged in reducing the Council's carbon footprint for a number of years."

" A number of years" - to flick a switch - They take it so seriously that the lights are on round the clock - How stupid and lazy are people working at these establishments - Why cant they turn the lights off at the end of the day, its not that difficult to turn a switch, flick a lever. It seems they are missing the basics, perhaps if they paid the electric bill it would be turned off pretty quickly. I feel this is a good example of the apathy that exists in government with no-one person taking responsibility or willing to stick their head up above the comfort of their desk and monthly pay cheque - just keep your head down and think of the pension fund regardless of other peoples lives. Why should I make a difference no one else is.......

Just what does it take to wake people up to what is happening? I'm sure when sea levels start to rise and effect the UK people will just argue over rights to higher land.

this is from the website - Thanks for the link Karen
The damage done by excessive street-lighting: There are 7.5 Million street lights in the UK, mean power 100W (ILE figures), that typically waste 15% of their light directly upwards, above the horizontal. Up to a further 15% of the light is spilt where it is not needed or not wanted. This amounts to about 131 kW hr of wasted energy per year per streetlight. Since a coal power station generates 0.9kg of CO2 per kWhr, a single streetlight generates about 120 kg per year of CO2 more than it needs to. Multiply this by the 7.5 Million streetlights in the UK, and a total of 830,000 tonnes of CO2 pollution is produced for the energy wasted by streetlights alone.
The total amount of power wasted above the horizontal is 110 MW, and if the further 15% of wasted light is included, some 220 MW is wasted in total per year. Since the mean generating capacity of a power large power station is 1Gwatt (1000 MegaWatts), and the typical running generation rate is 0.5 G Watt (PowerGen figures), this wasted electricity is equivalent to about half a power station.
If other sources of lighting are included (e.g. floodlights, etc.), this is a far greater number - over a 1 power station worth of energy, money and atmospheric pollution is wasted via lighting.

[Phil Turner]

Another idea is a wind up street light, if you want it on then charge it up by hand, like a wind up torch.

[Karen Maskall]

You know the place where I work is in new build 3 story flats ( I care for a lady in her own home) and ALL of them have 24hr lights on in the hallways which have windows with broad daylight. They are not even on timers and there are no switches on the walls so you can push the lights on as needed and they turn off after a few minutes. Now Im talking about a real lot of these buildings and hundreds of lights on 24 hrs .And this is just in one area of the one town.
So the blame there lies on the govt allowing building regulations to PASS these light fittings as acceptable.

Building regulations are ridiculous anyway. Its not just lighting like this that should be banned but people who have fully covered driveways,flagged,tarmacked you name it. (off at a tangent sorry but its the main causes of waste water flooding when the gardens could use the rain that falls on the land naturally)

So could it be that building regulations are targeted?

I still think that if the streets were in darkness we would find odd homes putting up thier own lighting which comes on when somebody approaches.And if they had LED bulbs all the better.

You are so right about people chasing after higher land PHil. As things start to change rapidly with global warming the slefish humans will just keep on doing what they are doing on higher grounds. It's often the case of as long as Im ok Jack then....

Thats why the govts and depts that enforce people to act responsibly should come in. Unfortunately they don't seem to have the gumption to know what to do do they?

And ALL shops should be lights out at midnight or pay hefty fines.

I think there wil come a time when it happens. But will it be too late?

[Pamela Ostrom]

Hi Phil.
I saw Mamita's comment about this discussion and I'm so glad that I got to read it and all the replies! Yes...we could easily bring some common sense and new technology to this whole street light thing. Great ideas here. Imagine a world where we can SEE the stars even in the city! I would love that.