Why aid the focus on citizens turning things off?

Section62

dunstonh said:

I disagree on the burglary and accident comment as that has not occurred in our area but then in rural areas, people are used to having no lighting.  In built-up areas, people are not used to it and some may not adapt as well as others.

Part of this relates to the volume of pedestrian and vehicle traffic.  In urban areas there is more activity, hence more risk/greater probability of accidents per km of route, compared to rural areas.

This is generally why some motorways, trunk roads and busier principal roads are also lit in rural areas.

Likewise, reduced activity is why in urban areas the street lighting can be turned off in the small hours without there necessarily being an appreciable increase in the accident rates.

norsefox

Supposedly, street lights account for around 4% of all UK electricity use.  You would imagine that the % allocation over winter could be higher.

Most street lights are not LED, so are still pretty inefficient.  Various different FOI requests are available online that show the usage for some local authorities.  Switching off some external and street lighting will make decent savings for the councils/local authorities, but you would imagine will make only a small impact on the UK's overall usage.  Perhaps a reduction of 1% is achievable (switching off up to 25% of lights, which would presumably be the upper end of what's possible).

maxmycardagain

In a word

Safety

both to pedestrians, to traffic and to security 

sienew

maxmycardagain said:

In a word

Safety

both to pedestrians, to traffic and to security 

Or perceived safety. Walking home late at night in almost total darkness can feel scary, especially for women. I'm not sure street lighting has a massive impact on making walking home at night safer but it feels safer and that is important and valuable in itself.

Section62

norsefox said:

Most street lights are not LED, so are still pretty inefficient.

Do you have a source for that claim?

norsefox

Section62 said:

norsefox said:

Most street lights are not LED, so are still pretty inefficient.

Do you have a source for that claim?

Energy Saving Trust - 2018 - https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/towards-a-brighter-future-for-street-lighting/

I'd imagine that the % has increased since then.  That was a 2-minute Google search.  The FOI requests re electricity usage and local authority spend is quite easily accessible.  There are some well-sourced and well-written answers to such queries on Quora.

TheBanker

sienew said:

maxmycardagain said:

In a word

Safety

both to pedestrians, to traffic and to security 

Or perceived safety. Walking home late at night in almost total darkness can feel scary, especially for women. I'm not sure street lighting has a massive impact on making walking home at night safer but it feels safer and that is important and valuable in itself.

It's not just the risk of being attacked/robbed that we ought to worry about. There's also the risk of people tripping up because they cannot see the pavement in front of them. Whilst robberies would generate more headlines, I suspect trips and slips would generate more injuries. 

dunstonh

TheBanker said:

sienew said:

maxmycardagain said:

In a word

Safety

both to pedestrians, to traffic and to security 

Or perceived safety. Walking home late at night in almost total darkness can feel scary, especially for women. I'm not sure street lighting has a massive impact on making walking home at night safer but it feels safer and that is important and valuable in itself.

It's not just the risk of being attacked/robbed that we ought to worry about. There's also the risk of people tripping up because they cannot see the pavement in front of them. Whilst robberies would generate more headlines, I suspect trips and slips would generate more injuries. 

Yet you don't see reports of that happening in areas where lighting is off or not present to begin with.  As I said earlier, people go out with torches or lanterns instead.

Section62

norsefox said:

Section62 said:

norsefox said:

Most street lights are not LED, so are still pretty inefficient.

Do you have a source for that claim?

Energy Saving Trust - 2018 - https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/towards-a-brighter-future-for-street-lighting/

I'd imagine that the % has increased since then.  That was a 2-minute Google search.  The FOI requests re electricity usage and local authority spend is quite easily accessible.  There are some well-sourced and well-written answers to such queries on Quora.

When I last looked it was over 55% by mid-2020.

https://ukrlg.ciht.org.uk/media/12713/sotn-report.pdf

I agree that figure will have increased [significantly] by now.

QrizB

norsefox said:

Supposedly, street lights account for around 4% of all UK electricity use.

That is not what your EST reference says. Rather, it says:

"Street lighting accounts for around 4% of the UK lighting electricity bill"

Spot the difference?

I would suggest that lighting (as opposed to heating, cooling, plant and equipment, etc) is a single-digit % of the UKs total electricity use.