Will somebody please turn off the light?

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Do you get fed up with offices and shops with their lights glaring out in the middle of the night when they are closed and everyone's gone home?

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 14 April 2006 10:37 (twenty years ago)

YES. Waste of energy, environmental implications, can screw up rhythms of nocturnal animals, mess up flight paths of birds, ruins the night sky . . . DUD DUD DUD DUD.

― phil d. (Phil D.), Friday, 14 April 2006 10:44 (twenty years ago)

can screw up rhythms of nocturnal animals

I believe it screws up plants too. I know this coz close to where I lived in Palmers Green, London there was a factory with some very bright arc lights outside which were right next to some cherry trees which were frequently seen with blossom on them at the 'wrong' time of year. This happened in successive years so I strongly suspect that the bright lights rather than unseasonable weather was the cause.

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 14 April 2006 10:47 (twenty years ago)

You're probably right. As an amateur (if infrequent) astronomer, suburban night pollution is one of my biggest pet peeves. I live in an apartment only several hundred yards away from my county's government offices, which has lights blazing 24/7/365, as does the adjunct office building across the street from it. Makes me want to stand outside and put out the windows with rocks.

― phil d. (Phil D.), Friday, 14 April 2006 10:57 (twenty years ago)

I think that our governments need to introduce legislation saying that all businesses and organizations HAVE to switch off the lights when the building is unoccupied. If it is left to ppl to do it voluntarily, then ppl will understandably complain that their environmental conscience is costing them business, as those with no such scruples will gain extra advertising by dint of being more visible. What really pissed me off was that the lights were left on in the window of the charity shop where I worked until recently. By saving energy there would be more money going to the (dying in a hospice, in this case) ppl who needed it.

My parents used to leave the lights on in their house when they went out of an evening as they reasoned that if the house looked occupied then they would be less likely to be burgled. I have no idea if statistics bear this out - this was in the days before the widescale take-up of security lighting with motion sensors, I should add.

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 14 April 2006 11:27 (twenty years ago)

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