Dim, don’t turn off

The New York Times reports that a number of cities have turned off or are planning to turn off a number of their street lights in order to save on the electricity bill because of high energy prices and tight budgets. It is alarming news when considering the safety of the respective citizens.

Further, the NY Times writes that the city of Santa Rosa, California has come up with the idea of adopting a light. The adopt-a-light programme gives the local citizens the opportunity to contribute to the Public Works Department. For $150, you can turn a darkened street light back on.

However, the article does not suggest street light dimming although many municipalities and cities around the world has benefitted from dimming, reporting savings of up to 25-40 %. Further, if the street light solution features fault detection, the operator will be much better equipped in terms of coordinating maintenance, thus saving time and money. All in all, dimming seems a brilliant alternative to darkening the streets.

One Response to “Dim, don’t turn off”

  1. Ken Patel Says:

    Instead of switching OFF all the streetlights, switch OFF every 2nd streetlight another option is to control all streetlights individually via twist-lock photocontrol to switch ON at Dusk, pre-set to OFF (6pm-3am), pre-set to ON (4am-8am), OFF at Dawn.

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