City governments (like any government operation) spends *your* money, so they waste a lot of it. It is much easier to raise taxes than conserve. Lighted streets have some value with deterring crime.
What gets me are these car dealers who leave lights on all night, and lots of the very high powered types too. WHY? I dont know about you, but even if I am looking to buy a car, I dont shop for them at night. I understand where these dealers want some security lights, but all they would need would be a few low powered spot lights. They dont need to make it look like daytime, which is precisely what they do. I think this is one of the biggest energy wastes of all. Even if they want lights in the early evening for people who want to look at their cars, a timer could shut these lights off at 10pm or something. Of course those of us buying cars are paying for all the excessive wasted power.
This is bullshit. Turning on and off an incadescent light does not use more energy, and if the off period is more than a few seconds, energy will be saved. It's known that flashing christmas lights use less power than when they are on all the time.
I'd think the same would be true for florescent and halogen lighting. Now these mercury vapor lights are another story, they need to cycle up to full brightness and that takes several minutes.
On the other hand, turning on an off a motor is a different matter. Motors draw a heavy current when they start, so it's best to leave the motor running if it's only off for a brief moment. Of course if it's going to be off for an hour, then it's better to turn it off.
But if I am looking for parts and the place is dark I would certainly go there at night. Lessen theft and vandalism.
Because lights make would-be thieves and vandals visible to any passers-by, and video surveillance.
Keeping the lights on is cheaper than paying the insurance premiums after all the cars on your lot have been stripped under the cover of darkness once or twice.
If this is the level of logical thought our human race has been reduced to, I want out.
If all the passing traffic is benign, then why do you need a buzzer to alert you to it?
Better question, why do you need a motion light connected to a buzzer if your neighborhood is so safe?
There are vermin and critters running around in every neighborhood. Don't kid yourself.
know about you,
is dark I would
very much true.lighting deters car vandalism and parts removal
I tried repeatedly those motion sensitve lights.:(:(
geez what a waste of time and money. what worked good in summer was overly sensitive in winter. trucks driving by could set it off anytime.plus pssing raccons and other wildlife
I finally settled on a pole lamp withh dusk to dawn sensor on a timer.
on at 6 AM off at midnite. any time between these hours and dark light is on. occasionally its during a mid day storm.with a 23Watt CF its efficent and realtively low cost.
although the CF lamps fail about once a year, when LEDs get better I will go to them, currently not brite enough
It may even be a condition of their insurance policy.
Maybe. More likely the low crime streets with affluent residents don't shoot their lights out and do insist on them being repaired. The low budget city works depts don't put a lot of effort into fixing lights in high crime areas. So yeah I'd expect a brighter street is probably safer crime wise, but wouldn't ascribe the cause to the lights.
Bright lights don't keep the raccoons out of my garbage cans but movement does. Lighting a property when nobody is observing just helps the criminals work faster and safer.
I would bet auto sales lots use the lighting for advertising purposes, not crime prevention.
why have them at all if they're not on when it's dark?
duh
s
UHHH duh...... can you spell S-E-C-U-R-I-T-Y???? a car lot is much less likely to be vandalized if the lot is lit so the little bastards can be seen.
s
No need to force educated people to be sensible about utility consumption. Just keep an eye on your wallet and decide from there.
I'm talking about huge parking lots at factories and shopping centers that have every light on. Sure, keep a few security light, but not every light in 10 acres of lot. Same with buildings. Reduce. Cut by half or 2/3 or so.
Oh, aren't you the smarmy one. Flying makes sense and I'm not trying to eliminate, just reduce use. OUr tax dollars are paying for some of that lighting and part of every retail purchase we make contribues too. What is hte sense of having big signs lit up when there is one car per hour going down t he street? Airport lights are bing used, but the Circuit City sign is nto drawing customers at midnight.
So, leaving a light burn for 9 hours maikes sense? Give me a break. Some lights do take time to heat up, but there are many different situations. Your generalization just sounds dumb.
Those brains are finding there have been many misonceptions too. Educate yoruself.
Yep, some are getting smart and turning lights off when not in use. About time. We need more educated people. I'm also talking about private lots at empty office building, shopping centers, factories.
would you want the lights off, returning in the morning to a empty lot, car stolen? or prefer you car on blocks totally stripped?
********************************************************I'd like to see the cost/benefit ratio on that. Many years ago my car was stripped in a parking lot. It was well lit and people were working inside at the time. The car was being junked anyway so it was no loss for me or my insurance company. OTOH, even if the loss was $2000, how many dollars are spent in the US to keep lights on in empty lots? Do we really need all of them on? How about a 75% reduction? .
I can buy that argument at 9 PM, but not so much a 3 AM
Ok, let's turn on the lights for the criminals.
They make night vision cameras now, no need for the lights.
So if they want to really clean up a street they can shut off the lights after you go to bed.
I guess no one read my whole message. I did mention to keep on some SECURITY lights. But there's a big difference between security and what many of these lots use.
I used to live on a farm and I know how much light comes from one of those mercury vapor or sodium pole lights. Two or three of those would be plenty for security and they consume something in the range of 70 to 150W each. But even the smaller car dealers are running multiple halogen floodlights that are at least 1000W each. Then they have many other lights on top of that. I dont doubt that even the smallest dealers are burning up 10,000W at minimum all night every night. And larger lots are using much more than that. There's a big difference between security and pure waste.
Ever been into an inner city area? Miami has an area called the Pork-N-Beans projects, located about Liberty City. Adjacent to Little Havana. The lights have an orange color, so people can see better into the night.
Once in Liberty City I experienced a few locals that had bones pierced through their noses. That was in daylight, can you imagine what the night looks like there?
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