| Do we need to provide politicians scientific proposals to reduce energy needs? |
| Yes, we as individuals have a voice and as groups have power. |
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| No, it is just a waste of time. |
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| Total Votes : 4 |
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| epop4151 |
 Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:39 pm Post subject: Can we reduce the need for street lights? |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 12 Dec 2007
Posts: 1
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Why do we not position a reflective satellite to illuminate major cities at night? This would reduce the need for street lighting and generally reduce energy usage. Calculations show that a sphere in geostationary orbit to reflect light equal to a full moon would be feasible, even though other shapes may be more cost effective.
I have heard that Russians have launched such a satellite (maybe as long as 15 to 20 years ago), but have not heard of the results.
This is my first effort to use this forum, I hope it elicits a response. |
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| Feifer |
| Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:05 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 09 Nov 2007
Posts: 40
Location: San Diego, California
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Hey.. welcome to the forum. I guess it's possible to put up some kind of gigantic mylar balloon in orbit. The thing is, it you want it to be seen for more than a couple hours after sunset and before dawn, it would have to be in high orbit and really big. Not to mention that something like that will not only be seen by people in the city, who are used to light pollution, but people like me who like to see the stars sometimes. It would really piss me off if there were a couple extra full moons in the sky, washing everything out, and that never went away. Sorry to shoot you down on your first post, but that's a really bad idea.  |
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| Harold14370 |
| Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 4:09 am Post subject: |
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Forum Professor
Joined: 13 Apr 2007
Posts: 1561
Location: Pennsylvania
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| How about just replacing the lamps with much much dimmer lamps so that they are equal to moonlight? Then turn them off on cloudy nights. |
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| captaincaveman |
| Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 4:27 am Post subject: |
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Forum Professor
Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 1460
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A few counties in the UK are trialing switching off street lights after a certain time of night and also replacing normal street lights for directional ones to reduce light pollution(and reduce power), It will make my missus pleased if it goes nationwide as shes well into her astronomy
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I ANSWER TO NO-ONE - The wonders of athiesm
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| Shaderwolf |
| Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 10:19 am Post subject: |
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Forum Senior
Joined: 13 Dec 2005
Posts: 312
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada (wanna play?)
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| I live in Vegas. Yes, we could save energy bills. Do we want to? I think we should. We're horrible with stuff like that. When the apoccolypse comes, it's is gonna be CONSUMED BY FIRE! Than, we won't have any issues with lighting. |
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| Deathridesahorse |
| Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2007 4:55 am Post subject: |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 25 Dec 2007
Posts: 34
Location: Perth, Western Australia
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| captaincaveman wrote: |
| A few counties in the UK are trialing switching off street lights after a certain time of night and also replacing normal street lights for directional ones to reduce light pollution(and reduce power), It will make my missus pleased if it goes nationwide as shes well into her astronomy |
Nice avatar...btw, "My god aint risen 'cause he's sleeping in today...!"(Doug Anthony All Stars)
Um, I find street lighting fairly essential but surely if we just switch to Green Energy then there will be no complaints about how much we use to keep our streets safe.
(I might keep an eye on what lights are kept on at night as I'd never really thought that much about it before.)
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| Shaderwolf |
| Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:15 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Senior
Joined: 13 Dec 2005
Posts: 312
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada (wanna play?)
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| Many places place their street lights much closer than others. In Vegas, they are pretty close. In places in California, they can be 40 to 50 feet apart. |
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| Guest |
| Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 3:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Why not just turn them off full stop there is no need for them today. |
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| Chemboy |
| Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 8:46 am Post subject: |
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Forum Ph.D.
Joined: 01 Jul 2006
Posts: 1060
Location: NY
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I think solar-powered street lights make an awful lot of sense. Just stick a solar panel at the top that's efficient enough to power the light through one night. Still have them hooked up to electricity for cloudy days and such, but make them to only run on solar power when possible.
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