Have a peek at what others have found this week:
Maggie at: FarmersWifeDayByDay
Karen at: Random Reflections
Miss Wookie at: Missus Wookie's Wanderings
This week my threesome may seem a little dull & one of those of a little head scratching. What I noticed is that our little village/township/county is in the process of changing the standard street lights. We are moving to LED lights - this for various reasons but the primary one is cost & as tax payers we can all get on board with that. One of the secondary reasons is a cause Mr Man has been active in & that's reducing light pollution in our communities. As a amateur astronomer he is very aware of the amount of bright lights being produced by our villages, towns & cities. We cannot see the night sky. The new LED lights give a good amount of light, they face down rather than up or horizontally. Also there's a citizen motion to turn off lights in the parks or at least reduce the number left on all night. Many of the parks are strictly for some type of ball playing so there should be no one using the parks over night.
I watched the two repair men for about 30 minutes, the time it took to remove & replace the 3 lights on the street that I was wandering for my morning walk. By the end of the day, all the lights in our neighbourhood had been replacement. Sorry that the photos are dull & dark, but that's our weather right now - typical November.
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| The old light |
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| The New LED Street Light |
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| New LED Street Light With Timer Sensor Built In |
We've had the same lights fitted here and I much prefer them. Our street lights turn off at midnight all over our town. It's a bit controversial because whilst you can understand the arguments about budget costs and light pollution it means that the pathways home are very dark and you do feel vulnerable if you are walking alone. Thank goodness our phones can have a torch facility turned on through the flash of the camera!
ReplyDeleteWhen I started to notice light pollution I was surprised but maybe not, that there is a lot of wasteful power with lights on all night in business buildings & such. I get the safety feature but maybe we need to cut in half.
DeleteI'm always excited when I hear about these changes with an eye to decreasing light pollution. I remember clear views of the Milky Way from my city backyard when I was a child, but now in that same neighborhood the light pollution makes seeing any stars impossible. Thank you for being part of the solution :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think many of ever look up at the night sky, everyone seems to be looking down with thumbs a going on their devices ... Trying to be part of the solution in many ways. My latest push at home is water conserving & as I make myself aware, there's a lot of habits around over use of all our resources.
DeleteWe had LED street lights in our old area but this new area hasn't had them installed yet. I like them and some areas have PiR (motion sensors) which means that as you walk you get lit. Which can make you feel vulnerable too.
ReplyDeleteI've joined in again this week so am off to see what others came up with too.
I think the PiR sensors are such a good idea, it's the comprise that we can make for all sides of the discussion.
DeleteMany of our streetlights go out at midnight too. I'm pleased from an energy-saving point of view ... never mind about saving money etc. I get the security argument about walking late at night, but I don't think it would make me feel any better about doing it. Too scared either way! I don't know if ours are LEDs or not.
ReplyDeleteI'm not brave walking alone in the dark anywhere. I think as we wake up to our over use of resources, there is going to be more & more solutions created & developed. Needs as they say is the Mother of Invention.
DeleteNo street lights out here but some of the newer country dwellers insist on plastic lights all up their drives and leaving outside lights on all the time!
ReplyDeleteAh yes those plastic solar lights. I have some in my garden but there's a switch to have on for only 4,6,8 hours after dark. Maybe the newer country dwellers haven't lost their city fear of the dark. Many of our local farmers have huge spotlights outside the barn which are on all night - I have one that shines directly into our bedroom & he's a crop farmer no livestock.
DeleteOur streetlights also go out at midnight and I'm pleased with the efforts to save resources. I'm especially please because there is one outside of my bedroom window so the early switch-off means I can get some sleep!
ReplyDeleteThe time has long since arrived where conserving our energy & natural resources needs to be in our plans of community living. I wonder if our next step is / should be lights out after mid-night ...
DeletePretty smart move. I just had the lights in my studio replaced with LED lights--cleaner and brighter. It was a big win. We have no street lights at all on our street. It means having lights on your house for security!
ReplyDeleteI see in the newer subdivisions that there are fewer street lights ... but maybe because the houses are SO close together, some about 4 feet apart!
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