I have to wonder sometimes as to the ineptitude of some of our leaders. For instance, a report today is suggesting that we do not have enough energy capacity to fulfill demands in 2020
see here . Meanwhile, we are constantly bombarded with adverts on tv to switch off unnecessary electrical appliances to save energy and also reduce our carbon emmissions. Fair enough, but I would like to point out the vast waste of energy on our very doorstep. Tonight I picked up my eldest daughter from scouts and drove her home, a journey of around 1 mile, on the way I counted how many street lights I passed. Care to hazard a guess? 40? 70? Try 130, yes, I'm not kidding you, I passed 130 street lights on my way home. Now I estimate that each lamp must be in the region of 400W consumption. You do the maths!
It seems to me that we could massively reduce our energy consumtion by turning off every other street light, this would in my opinion still provide enough light to carry on as normal and would also have the secondary benefit of reducing light pollution, thus enabling us to see the night sky again.
Sure, there are issues to consider and it may not be appropriate to switch off lights in some areas, but I think where possible this could be a great way to cut down on our energy consumption.
Other areas which urgently need looking at are the illumination of public buildings and structures. Very often these are illuminated all night when few people will even notice them, ok, I conceed that some buildings and art works look great illuminated, but surely the lights could be turned off after midnight.
