Now enviro-policy to “end light pollution” has France on track to look like North Korea at night:
From The Guardian:
Lights out – France to force shops and offices to go dark overnight
French light pollution law is expected to save 250,000 tonnes of C02 a year
The French ecology minister, Delphine Batho, said she hoped the law would change attitudes in France and help the country become a pioneer in reducing light pollution.
Full story here.
We’ve come so far to rid ourselves of the dark, only to have the lights forcibly turned off by zealots.
Luboš Motl writes about the issue
“Light pollution” is quoted as another justification. I’ve seen some movies about “light pollution” and although one could a priori think that this could be a legitimate concern, I think that all the people claiming that light pollution is a problem are Luddite lunatics, too. There’s just lots of places on Earth where light pollution is nearly non-existent. You may still go there. It’s probably not too important because not too many people are going there.
Maybe “bad astronomer” Phil Plait will move to France or North Korea now, we can only hope.
Locally, the idea of turning off lights has found favor in plans forged by the lunatic fringe that inhabits our town’s “sustainability committee”, run by Former Mayor Ann Schwab, who managed to sneak in the “climate action plan” in a meeting few attended on the night of the last election in 2012. Predictably, it was approved.
Since these folks on the council seem to worship the European way of doing things, I predict they’ll soon follow with the same edict. We have a lone volunteer staffed Chico Community Observatory in the town’s Bidwell park that they fought tooth and nail 10 years ago (I know, I was a part of it then), and they’ll now likely use it as a means to an end since, “Light pollution” was discussed at the onset.
“The move, announced on Wednesday, is expected to save 250,000 tonnes of CO2 – enough energy to power 750,000 French households for a year.”
I don’t think that is correct, it sounds like an exaggeration to me. Isn’t 250,000 tonnes of carbon just about 130,000 barrels of oil? And France consumes about 700 million barrels of oil a year. I don’t know, this claims sounds a bit fishy to me. How about you?
Have any of you actually read the article? It’s not the street lights the French want turned off but all the lights in unoccupied offices and shops and other buildings. I don’t have a problem with that but perhaps it’s because I can’t see the point in waste, particularly energy, wherever it comes from.
I doubt that this will save a lot of CO2 as France’s electricity is predominantly nuclear. Night lights are uvery useful to diminish grid load fluctuations.
Just wait until the accident rates tripple after dark. The sabre tooth tigers would approve. Our universities are turning out mindless robots with no common sense or the ability to analyze and quantify a problem. Shada!
Bill
Shutting or dimming the lights in tall buildings might actually save a lot of birds too.
Uh . . . Paris is internationally known as the City of Light. Soon to be City of Lights Off?
It kind of fits.
Think Sorbonne. Think sustainability. Ideas that quickly leads to opression, because you will have to force it onto people. You will have to do something with those that oppose it.
http://liberapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Pol_Pot
As an amateur astronomer, I have seen my fair share of light pollution, and yes, it is real. Note, please that I am not a luddite, and that eliminating light pollution is NOT the same as leaving us in the dark, or leaving shadows for criminals to hide in. Preventing light pollution does not mandate that we have less light. Just the opposite. Security lights, street lights, rest area lights along the highway — you would be amazed at how many of these light send a large fraction of their output into the sky or horizontally where they produce glare but not much ground lighting. By using reflectors over the lights, you can use the same wattage and almost double the amount of light on the ground. By reflecting horizontal glare downward to help light the area, you can not only get more light to fill in the shadows, but the lack of glare gives you a better view of any criminals who may be lurking.
Cutting back on light pollution is not a hyper-wacko-eco idea. It is just common sense. It is no more crazy than suggesting that we should close our windows and doors when we want to heat or cool our houses.
I’m with Steve Schaper and elftone on this.
I don’t want to have to travel to special dark areas to see the milky way.
There’s nothing wrong with using efficient reflectors or directional LED sources to stop light pointlessly shining upwards into space.
Just because we don’t believe in CAGW doesn’t mean we are supposed to encourage wastage and pollution!
Once Solar powers all electric lights, there won’t be any question regarding the efficacy of such a policy.
Can anybody say “progress”?
I’m with Steve. I wish we could have less light pollution in the Uk but as an amateur astronomer that’s a selfish thought.
I don’t think many Americans comprehend what living in England is like. We are a country that’s roughly the same size as New York state or Iowa in area yet with 1 fifth the population of the whole of the United states. It’s crowded.
Sure there are still idyllic green spots of solitude but there really are very few areas where you can spend an evening looking at the sky without any disruption from artificial light. It’s not a problem, but it is a shame.
I’d support any plan to reduce light in suburban and rural* areas of the UK but not based upon the premise that it would help reduce commissions and as such combat temperature rise. But simply because there is no need to be wasteful and sometimes it’s nice to get away and just look at the stars.
*Our cities are so crowded and busy that it would be dangerous to reduce light in those areas due to security and safety issues given the number of people who like to engage in nefarious activities in the dark.
Also a Chico resident here. I love the observatory, and I haul out my little scopes sometimes. I’d love to just have some sane lights that illuminate down rather than actively trying to be seen from space.
elftone – actually that is what night time lighting was for – to reduce crime. What hides in the dark is exposed by the light.
Now we can debate whether or not we still feel that way or not – outside of just generally wanting to be able to see where we are going. In this case as a CO2 savings that is given as the justification for this action it is pretty useless. Nuclear power as others have noted – and the absolute failure in any confirmed research study that shows CO2 having much influence on the climate – I think the CLOUD study at CERN suggested maybe ammonia but pretty much said CO2 is inconsequential.
Nothing wrong with saving money and not wasting things needlessly, no problem whatsoever with that – but lets call it for what it is. Personally I dislike streetlights because I do also like to see the night sky, but I live in an area where crime is low and even then the lighting is limited.
The best option for mankind is to kill 4 billion people in a short period of time, and well that is what is being considered now. I don’t mind being one of them, since hell is a lie, and I’ll end up either nothingness in or heaven (which one, I’m not sure). We’re being prepared to live as slaves in the NWO, where only the top 1% of the current top .01% reign – and they will. Already we see how those who desire success and reach it are criticized. A possible leadership role will be from the richest family on earth (ever, and I mean ever – provably) the Rothchilds family, estimated worth at over 400 billion divided among many members living now all over the world. I’m not saying they are evil, you can decide that, but it’s a fact they are incredibly rich, and have more more than anyone else, and we all know money influences it all, so it’s a no-brainer behind the scenes, they command many at the highest rungs of politics and industry, and despite a bad stock market or any negative market adjustment, they keep getting richer – amazingly. People have misjudged the direction of our leaders, foolishly, and those in supreme power wish nothing less than having a lot more of it. Why is the financial derivative market worth 1.5 Quadrillion dollars? Do you even know how much money that is? Its more than all paper money ever printed since 700,000 BC. The scam is to skim real money off the derivatives, leaving worthless imaginary paper behind. Many of the worlds biggest enemies are disguised behind feel good entities like Not-for-profits, companies who we love, or so we think. They are not republicans or democrats. My advice is to live as you wish now, fulfilling your kindest or darkest desires, because there have been 70 billion humans on earth since we manifested on this planet, and aren’t you tired of living in mediocrity? It’s time to live your dreams or defeat your enemies, like the rich do, because that is the nature of human beings, purely.
We could go back to coal oil, my bad.]:{
Alfred
If they implement this in Canada, Suzuki will need 100’s of female bodyguards all night long.
http://darksky.org/about-ida is worth a visit. I’m not one that believes we must turn off all the lights, but after working in places where excessive nighttime illumination was causing very real threat to endangered populations I thin we can do better.
Much of the night lighting is an incredible waste of resources that offers no reasonable benefit. Lighting a downtown skyline all nite a perfect example. Some areas do need lighting to address crime and safety – however, many, many places – rural and otherwise – do just fine with minimal night lighting.
It wasn’t all that long ago that Kansas City (Missouri) had a major initiative to reduce crime by lighting every street!
BTW, it didn’t work! Apparently more street lighting makes it easier to see your target at night. (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-25-most-dangerous-cities-in-america.html?page=all). Also BTW, it’s very safe in the KCMO suburbs.
OT: ‘FATHER OF THE PRIUS’ DECLARES ELECTRIC CARS ‘NOT VIABLE’
“Hybrid car pioneer and “father of the Prius” Takeshi Uchiyamada says the billions poured into developing battery electric vehicles have ultimately been in vain. “Because of its shortcomings–driving range, cost and recharging time–the electric vehicle is not a viable replacement for most conventional cars,” said Uchiyamada. “We need something entirely new.”
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/02/04/Father-of-the-Prius-Declares-Electric-Cars-Not-Viable
i’m an amateur astronomer in the middle of england.the light pollution is horrendous.forget about the CO2 angle. we should all be in favour of seeing beautiful starry skies.
I too welcome any chance for a reduction in light pollution. Being one where glare has become a concern while driving at night I hate any and all roadside lighting that casts light out to the sides instead of down. Doctors find nothing wrong with my eyes but glare still bothers me. And I would love to be able to see the night sky as I could when I was a child. I have lived all of my 50 years in the same city and it is disheartening that my children were unable to look up in wonder at the night sky.
I have often thought how useless it is for any business to stay fully lit when it is closed. Motion sensors can turn on lights if there is anyone snooping around. And by having lights come on only when activated by motion it actually alerts others that something isn’t right and perhaps it needs to be checked out. With everything lit nothing stands out, no one cares.
Good Grief……..not dark sky you Luddites! rotfl
..inside lights! offices and stores
“Under the new law, which comes into effect on 1 July, lights in shop window displays will be turned off at 1am. Interior lights in offices and other non-residential buildings will have to be switched off an hour after the last employee leaves. Local councils will be able to make exceptions for Christmas and other special occasions, and in certain tourist or cultural areas.”
Hm, given that France is the country which is leading in nuclear produced electricity, is this austerity set in place in order to help the Germans survive the current winter?
Merkel begging for electricity!
The amount of astronomy that is being done from the surface of the earth using visible wavelengths is dropping every year. And little of that is being done any where near major cities.
Criminals throughout France celebrate.