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This is the downside of LEDs. As great a technology as they are, their low cost and efficiency has enabled a huge expansion of outdoor lighting. Bright outdoor
by Reason077 7y ago
This is the downside of LEDs. As great a technology as they are, their low cost and efficiency has enabled a huge expansion of outdoor lighting.
Bright outdoor lights used to be expensive, and installing/running them unnecessarily would have a significant impact on power bills. Not any more.
(That said, the "insect apocalypse" began long before LEDs were a thing...)
- Zancarius 7y ago> their low cost and efficiency has enabled a huge expansion of outdoor lighting. This is exactly it. Leaving half a dozen LEDs on all night long is far cheaper than doing the same with traditional lighting. Then you have those stupid strings of warm white LEDs that I assume are intended to look like candles and are apparently all the rage right now. To say nothing of the couple of houses across the valley that have motion lights--at the end of their driveway--activated either by a brisk breeze or errant skunk. What worries me isn't so much whether light pollution is contributing to mass insect deaths (that seems debatable); it's that light pollution is getting so much worse that appreciating the night sky is going to become increasingly harder for more and more of the population.