The Earth Hour, aka Earth lights out night, causes mixed emotions for me. I now it is meant to be a way of raising awareness but I keep hearing people say how much energy was saved during that hour. Unfortunately along with the awareness I hear a lot of people saying how crazy it is. I’m a tree hugger and I have to agree with them. One night of turning the lights off at the Sydney Opera House sounds wonderful but did they also turn off their security? What of the other landmarks? Wouldn’t it be more cost effective in the long run if all of those landmarks switched their lights to more effective lighting? I mean really, wouldn’t smaller more efficient, well placed lights be better for decreasing energy use, decreasing light pollution, show off the architecture better, and be a better long term solution.
Years ago I saw a show about a program trying to bring the stars back to Parris. They showed a building with traditional flood lights before it was refitted with new smaller lights and after. The after picture looked so much better. They changed the lights on famous buildings in such a way that the building’s structure was better displayed (not washed out), less light ‘escaped’ into the atmosphere, and there was sufficient lighting for personal safety and property security. The large power draining flood lights and replaced them with strings of small or LED lights spaced 1-3 feet apart. They installed them in window archways, under ridges, etc which better showed off the famous buildings. And all of this was going to cost less in electricity, carbon foot print, and fewer bulbs changed.
I couldn’t find anything about the show I saw when I searched the web but I did find these related sites….
Turn Your Lights Out For Earth Hour: March 28, 8:30 p.m.
OUTDOOR LIGHTING GUIDE by Institution Of Lighting Engineers (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/OUTDOOR-LIGHTING-Institution-Lighting-Engineers/dp/0415370078#
Light pollution From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pollution
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