A piece I saw Auto Express recently talked about the British Government's bid to save $ & go green. They plan to dimm or even switch off street lights altogether when traffic is scarse. :shock:

The scheme would require complex & expensive electronic control to limit when and for how long street lamps stay on.

A light at half power would use 60% less energy.

The British Dept. of Transport begins trials later this year.

...to be followed on closely by this country in 20yrs time :!: :cry: :!:

make it EU law and it'll get done.

Hi Paul, great idea, don’t think it will work here…

1. This country and its government will spend 20 years debating whether to implement this plan and at least ten years actually implementing the plan.
2. Contracts will be awarded to friends of friends in government positions, (oh what an attractive brown envelope you have there).
3. The plan when complete will be five times over budget.
4. The technology that was implemented by the contractors was found to be done on the cheap and didn’t really work because they didn’t know exactly what they were doing or what was required, thus it was a waste of money and time.
5. Public outrage will ensue; a tribunal will be called for and will last 4 years.
6. The cost of the tribunal will run into hundreds of millions of euros.
7. At the end of the tribunal no one was found to be at blame, thus more money wasted.
8. You and I (taxpayers) will have to pay for Tribunal and the failed project to reduce light pollution in the first place.
9. you can think about this when a new motorway is been built near your home where light pollution is already bad and about to get worst and you simply can’t image the Andromeda galaxy anymore!


Clear skies (dark hopefully)
Mike

I hate to agree, but summed up nicely, given the current climate. :roll:

And I thought I was a cynic

Hi Paul, great idea, don’t think it will work here…

1. This country and its government will spend 20 years debating whether to implement this plan and at least ten years actually implementing the plan.
2. Contracts will be awarded to friends of friends in government positions, (oh what an attractive brown envelope you have there).
3. The plan when complete will be five times over budget.
4. The technology that was implemented by the contractors was found to be done on the cheap and didn’t really work because they didn’t know exactly what they were doing or what was required, thus it was a waste of money and time.
5. Public outrage will ensue; a tribunal will be called for and will last 4 years.
6. The cost of the tribunal will run into hundreds of millions of euros.
7. At the end of the tribunal no one was found to be at blame, thus more money wasted.
8. You and I (taxpayers) will have to pay for Tribunal and the failed project to reduce light pollution in the first place.
9. you can think about this when a new motorway is been built near your home where light pollution is already bad and about to get worst and you simply can’t image the Andromeda galaxy anymore!


Clear skies (dark hopefully)
Mike

i am sure there are alot of dim lights located just off merrion square, 166 to be precise.

I used to be cynical about this until the University of London Observatory at Mill Hill in North London got a fantastic result a couple of years ago after a long campaign with the authorities, with the lighting on the adjacent A41 dual carriageway, which had been a problem for decades.

The new system of directional lighting, focussed on the road, is so efficient that walking alongside it is quite eerie, and in fact they had to install new pathway lighting in the grounds of the observatory so you can see where you're going ! It just goes to show what good canvassing can sometimes achieve.

Perhaps the govt is unaware of/has forgotten about this, but surely it must be a better solution than what is now being proposed, saving about 30% of the energy at a stroke.

www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co....tech/747/747we74.htm

If the idiots just AIMED outdoor lights properly you could halve the power consumption tomorrow morning. (And bring down light pollution to a quarter).

The lighting industry is a paradigm for bad design,waste and profligacy.
It is the IDIOT BRANCH of all engineering.

Peter.

And I thought I was a cynic

I thought I was a cynic!

Mike, you summed it up pretty well above there.

I think it is a good idea to be honest. It is no different to every one of us doing the same in our own homes. In the not-so-longterm, the benefits would be obvious. With Tony Blair getting a bit of a hammering of late with proposals to really cut Britains UK carbon emissions, something has to be done.

I heard on the radio news today that the average Winter temperatures in Ireland this year were 7.5 degrees above average - the warmest winter since records began about 125 years ago.

Seanie.

Hi all

I was driving back fron Enniskerry this afternoon, I headed towards the Scalp, just beyond, before the ski slope, the road had been improved, they built new footpaths on the left hand side, and then placed a lamp post at intervals of approximately 5-10 metres, this amazed me as it seemed total overkill, there were dozens of them. Now I can't understand why they are all needed that specific location, but a trip past them some night might be an eyeopener and sunglasses might be required.

Paul

I know where you're talking about Paul, was in the area last Saturday night. It did seem overkill, considering just how quiet the area was. No traffic, actually. Very little in the way of pubs/club pedestrian traffic too.