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Is there an article with more details about the decision and the implementation? I’m curious if the lights are off completely, or are they dimmed and/or motion
by merelysounds 1y ago
Is there an article with more details about the decision and the implementation?
I’m curious if the lights are off completely, or are they dimmed and/or motion activated. Also curious about how it affects the costs (and is there a financial motivation as well).
- hnlmorg 1y agoThis happens in many towns and cities in the UK too. For the UK, important streetlight (motorways, junctions, etc) are kept on. But the quieter streets and away from junctions are shut off. It’s done for “climate” reasons but I’m pretty use the root cause is actually just another cost cutting measure.
- lupusreal 1y agoClimate, not light pollution?
- hnlmorg 1y agoPersonally I’d argue that light pollution is a climate issue. I’m not a scientist though so maybe there’s a more precise definition here that I’m overlooking? But regardless, energy savings was also one of the cited reasons. So to answer your question: both.
- robertlagrant 1y agoWhy would you say it's a climate issue?
- hnlmorg 1y agoBecause light is an environmental property to a region and one that can affect the habitat of organisms which live there. It’s not really any difference to other traditional climate concerns like wind nor rain aside from light being a non-tactile property. But then neither is heat. I will concede that my interpretation of the term “climate” here might not be correct. I’m not an expert in this field so it’s entirely possible I’ve stretched the definition
- robertlagrant 1y agoClimate is long-term weather patterns.
- hnlmorg 1y agoAhhh thank you. That explains the puzzled responses to my comments
- NamTaf 1y agoIt's good that financial and environmental incentives are aligned in this case.
- hnlmorg 1y agoYeah definitely. It’s not all that often that happens.
- IshKebab 1y ago"many towns and cities in the UK" is definitely over-selling this. I've never seen this once, so it must be very rare.
- hnlmorg 1y agoDefinitely not rare: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0mzkgxr22po https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0mzkgxr22po My county isn’t listed there so there plenty more councils which also do this and arent mentioned. “Many” is subjective though. So your experience could be valid and my statement still true.
- nerdsniper 1y agoGermany is pretty strict about "light pollution". You can have lights at night, but they can't spill onto other people's property or shine up into the sky. Personally I think this should be the case in USA as well - you're welcome to light your own lawn, but I should be the decider of whether my own is lit or not. Let alone security lights that shine directly into neighbors' windows...