Wasted street lighting...

Ya know,

In this day and age, why are street lights not switching off when there are no cars or people near them ? A simple motion detector and LED light sources...

 

Those would be the longest range motion detectors I've ever heard of.

Decent ergonomic design, with fully shielded fixtures that send no light directly into the night sky and little glare into the eyes of drivers, would allow enormous energy savings.

 

California Lighting Technology Center - Bi-Level Smart Fixtures

BTW, I interviewed for an Associate Development Engineer job at CLTC. I hope that I can work for them, but I won't know for a week or two.

 

Having grown up on a farm in a dark rural area, I call them "insecurity" lights. While the sky there is still fairly dark, their proliferation has noticeably damaged the night sky.

Few people realize how well humans can walk the fields and logging roads (no forest canopy) with just natural night skylight, especially in winter. But very few are away from artificial light long enough to ever adapt to the dark.

 

A house every 1/4 mile? That's crowded. I was used to the nearest house being 3/4 mile away and over a hill, the nearest visible house being 2 miles away. 180 degree view for 15 miles meant lots of lights were visible, but the other direction (over the mountain) had no artificial light for at least 30 miles. Venus' shadow was very bright on snow, but I rarely looked for it in other seasons.

A new house was put up last year just 1/2 mile away, mere feet from dad's fence. Grrr. We can't just step off the tractor for a pee anymore. From their hilltop, their interior lights flood dad's fields, at least they haven't put up an insecurity light. But even one light there wouldn't be as bad as the mill's yard lights five mile away.

My only tour of Mauna Kea was in daylight, and I was slightly oxygen deprived at the summit. It sounds like your observing session was at the Ellison Onizuka Vistor Center, which is low enough for the eyes to get sufficient oxygen for good dark vision. My only similar seeing was from a campground on the MT-WY line between Yellowstone and Beartooth Pass, just below 10k feet.

I haven't been to a star party in twenty years. Though the eyes are well past their prime, the budget can now afford something better than a C90. Maybe its time to return to that hobby, before more light pollution wrecks the last dark places.

 

We live 150 km from the nearest town,,, in Northern Ontario, Canada.

We have one neighbour, 2 miles away, the next nearest is 25 miles. There are only a scattered few along the road to town. When it is dark,,, it is dark. Folks that come from the city are amazed at the number and magnitude of the stars. I can walk through the bush, run my boat home through a series of narrows, down the lake over big water NEVER needing a light except to dock. (We are the only ones on the lake so there is no fear of running over another boat). If you live with light,, you never get any good night vision.

The sadness is that over the years, the light from the city,, 100,000 people has begun to show on the horizon, especially in the winter with the reflection off the snow. It would be so simple to mandate down light for all outdoor lighting. People would be just as secure,, but those of us that live in the dark would benefit.

Icarus

 

I sincerely hope you get the position. Hang in there, buddy

 

Hmmmm. Think that would stop me?

" I'm Jay, your neighbor"

Pause to carefully flip a few times, then zip, then use THE SAME HAND to offer a handshake ....

:evil:

Yessir, that would keep those uppity city folk in line

 

At my hobby farm, the only "security" light comes from the IR off my security cameras. I find it takes a good 24 hours for my eyes to start "working" again

HPS streetlamps are pretty bad for light pollution. The older LPS weren't too bad, but folks didn't like the sickly orange/yellow glow. You can still get replacement LPS bulbs, but I haven't see an actual new LPS fixture in years, maybe 10 years

 

BTW: If I really did have new neighbors build within the legal minimum separation zone of my property line at my hobby farm, when I stepped off the tractor for a piss, I'd make sure to FACE them while doing so!

Bwahahahahahahaha!

 

If I remember, your last attempt to scare the neighbors backfired.

 

Thanks, they are interviewing several candidates for just one position, so I would say its a long shot at this point. It only pays about 60% of what I was making at my last job, but it is for a good cause so I'm hoping it works out.

 

How was I to know that hanging up skimpy underwear wouldn't frighten normal folk? Thinking back, they obviously were NOT normal folks

Knowing my luck, in the hypothetical "flip and zip" scenario, the troublesome neighbors would then say "oh good, we were thinking of starting a threesome"

Hmmmmm

 

I used to do that a lot driving down rural highways at night with no one else around. Especially on moonlit nights. Very exhilirating. Heightens all your senses...

 

Try it with NODs... used to do that when partolling the chemical depot I was deployed to guard for the better part of a year. Great training for the lads. The best was the time we crested a hill and were practically blinded by a swarm of fireflies. First and only time I ever seen them in Colorado.

 

Dad's farm is in a county that still lacks any building code. Quite unlike my suburban home, where the heat pump installers had to measure to the survey posts to make sure the outside unit conformed to setback requirements. And where the Milky Way is always invisible, even during mass power outages.

 

Ah yes, the Achilles Heel of NOD's