France bans lights at night
THE Dark Ages are returning to France. French environment minister Delphine Batho says that from July 1, all non-residential buildings will have to switch off interior lights one hour after the last worker leaves the premises. The outside lights must all be extinguished by 1 am.
This is good news for four groups of people:
1. Burglars.
2. People without curtains – Batho says the darkness will make France a pioneer in helping people’s sleep patterns.
3. Astronomers.
4. Dog owners
Paris’s nickname, La Ville-Lumière, will be updated to something more in keeping with its go-ahead credentials,like Ville de marcher en poo chien or Calcutta…
Posted: 5th, February 2013 | In: Global Warming, Technology Comments (2) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
February 6th, 2013 at 2:10 pm
Our interior lights in the office are controlled by motion sensors. This has caused embarrassment during some particularly turgid video conferencing calls. We have had to nominate a designated ‘mover’ in such cases. I agree with Stig on street lighting. I haven’t seen the Milky Way since my last visit to Cornwall
February 6th, 2013 at 9:53 am
That is actually a wonderful move.
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Studies of whether street lighting reduces crime have been clearly inconclusive, which means they don’t. One study has even suggested that street lights can actually encourage crime. I personally think that to be the case.
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I remember living in a city where the street lights all went out at about 01:30 I think. It was great. I well remember just stepping outside at about 4 am and observing comet kokoutek in full glory. These days a resident in just about any city would have to travel well outside the urban area to get such an unimpeded view.
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If people want to be out and about after 1:30 am, let them buy a torch, not have their way lit by taxes.