Lights out – France to force shops and offices to go dark overnight

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Lights out - France to force shops and offices to go dark overnight

Katie Davies
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 30 January 2013 17.48 GMT

Shops and offices throughout France will be forced to turn off their lights overnight in a bid to fight light pollution, the country's environment ministry has announced.

Under the new law, which comes into effect on 1 July, lights in shop window displays will be turned off at 1am. Interior lights in offices and other non-residential buildings will have to be switched off an hour after the last employee leaves. Local councils will be able to make exceptions for Christmas and other special occasions, and in certain tourist or cultural areas.

The move, announced on Wednesday, is expected to save 250,000 tonnes of CO2 – enough energy to power 750,000 French households for a year.

The French ecology minister, Delphine Batho, said she hoped the law would change attitudes in France and help the country become a pioneer in reducing light pollution.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/30/lights-out-france-shops-offices

[msongs]

1. will slash electric bills as well, so generators will be after government compensation nt

[rhett o rick]

2. If we could only harness the power that Vegas lights use every night, we could have energy into the

next decade.

[freshwest]

3. Last year we had a lights out event and all the businesses followed it. They only left on neons.

They never switched back and it's been nice to not have all that light coming in the windows at night. The street lights are almost all LED now or solar now, too.

[quadrature]

4. France... electricity is 75% nuke

at night, probably 100% nuke.

I find the numbers hard to believe.
what electric plants, are
going to be shut off at night, because of the decision?

[Nihil]

5. Excellent - let's hope more countries (including mine) follow suit!

Far too much pointless waste from empty offices that needs to be addressed.