Jethro wrote:
On Apr 18, 8:30 am, The Medway Handyman
wrote:
Up to 75% of councils are dimming the lights to save money

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ent-councils-d...

Using a dimmer switch on your lights at home doesn't save very much in
electricity AFAIK, e.g. dimming to half the light doesn't reduce the
power consumption by 50% - is it different on street lights?

--
Dave - The Medway Handymanwww.medwayhandyman.co.uk

Surely half the problem is the myriad ways that street lamps are
controlled ? I know some authorities fitted light-sensors to street
lamps (I vaguely recalled some had one sensor for X lamps), whilst
others (like mine) kept/fitted timers (always amusing after a power
cut). If they're going to start changing the "on" rules, it could
prove very costly. Ideally it'd be nice to control every light
individually - then they could switch to "half lights", or vary the
times for economy. Presumably those lights that are on less will need
replacing less, leading to savings in bulbs ?

Mind you, this falls into my "if it *really* mattered" test ...
similar to being able to control *all* traffic signals (INCLUDING
pedestrian lights). I'm sure if some enlightened local authority did
this, they could improve the efficiency of the road network (i.e.
reduce the need for new roads) by a considerable amount. Unfortunately
the dogma that we mustn't do anything that remotely looks like helping
motorists wins out. Better be careful, straying into urd territory.

Anyway, on topic, to be honest, I can't see that switching/dimming
lights between (say) midnight and 4am would affect a great number of
people.

It would not. as anyone who has actually driven around at that time of
night can tell you.

You have the roads and streets to yourself.

Post midnight all activity tails off to a low at about 3-4 a.m before
the first of the early risers get going around 5 a.m.

However this will only make the load variation on the grid worse, as
there is oodles of spare capacity that has to be ready for the rush hour
spinning away overnight anyway.

Since I have been monitoring the grid, two things seem reasonable
propositions.

British summer time immediately increase electricity demand.

If everybody worked from home, we would save 20% of the nations electricity.