A Dark Dallas?

[TexasStooge]

This controversial issue is the talk of the town. This week, the City of Dallas officials are making a proposal for all businesses to shut off as many non-essential exterior lights as they can in order for the city to save money and reduce pollution. Traffic signals, street lights, and security illumination will not be included in this plan (thank goodness). What's the drawback? It could darken the city skyline.

Click here for story.

[JonathanBelles]

Good, maybe it will set an example for the rest of the country. I hope they will do a planned black out here in St. Pete.

[azsnowman]

Personally I think it's a GREAT idea....can you IMAGINE how much electricity would be saved? I read somewhere the other day that one coal fired power plant in Texas uses "3 FULL train loads" of coal a DAY to keep the lights on in the Dallas Houston Areas!! I mean 3 FULL trains of coal a DAY???????

[AnnularCane]

A darkened skyline might make for some nice stargazing.

[azsnowman]

BTW....one train load of coal consists of 100 coal cars!! So that's "300" cars of coal a DAY??

[TexasStooge]

If only there's a way to dim the exterior lights 1/2 way...oh well, let's see how this follows through.

[Dr. Jonah Rainwater]

Personally I think it's a dumb idea. Downtown Dallas is trying to raise its' profile as a world-class destination right now- what would Dallas be without Reunion Tower and the giant green skyscraper that periodically changes names lighting up the skyline?

[Aslkahuna]

It's estimated that at least 50% of the energy used by this Country goes into a futile effort to light up Space. If every city reduced it's light pollution then the amount of electricity needed would be much less and the amount of CO2 spewed into the atmosphere would be much less. Excess light in our cities is not good for many forms of wildlife and there's even evidence that it affects humans adversely as well as all life forms need some dark time. This would be an excellent thing for Dallas to do.

Steve

[MomH]

Many, many years ago during the 70's, President Nixon made a speech one night about the need for everyone to conserve energy because of the fuel shortage. I was amazed when a couple of nights later (after warning the city the day before) all the lights in Vegas went off except for those that illuminated the billboards (who was playing each hotel). No fancy neon lights, no lighted fountains, no advertising, no lights. Several weeks later everyone was at the 'strip' or downtown again for one evening to see the lights on again for a few hours. They were shooting a James Bond film and needed them. At midnight they went out again for the "duration." If Vegas can do it so can every other city in America.

[MGC]

It would be a good idea IMO. Save a ton of money and electricity. I'm sure the power companies are against it though. I remember the nights after Katrina, I forgot what the night sky looked like, it is so beautiful to see all the stars and milky-way.....MGC

[abajan]

It would be a good idea IMO. Save a ton of money and electricity. I'm sure the power companies are against it though. I remember the nights after Katrina, I forgot what the night sky looked like, it is so beautiful to see all the stars and milky-way.....MGC

Yep. Whenever there's a power failure here (which rarely happens nowadays) the Milky Way becomes quite visible. Have you ever looked at it with a pair of binoculars or a telescope? It's breathtaking to see all those stars.

One amazing fact I heard many years ago was that some of the points of light on each side of the Milky Way are not stars like many assume but entire galaxies! When one considers how massive the average galaxy is, that's nothing short of mind-boggling.

[HollynLA]

I love the idea of energy conservation but be careful with the electric companies. If they lose business, they will triple your kilo charge like they did here in Louisiana. Our electric is still extremely high due to lack of customers for them to provide energy to.

[HURAKAN]

Great idea. I heard the other day in the news that in Bogotá, Colombia, they are taking the iniciative of walking or bike riding the first Monday of every month to go to work or school or any other activity. Every city in the world should do something like it.

[Ptarmigan]

I like it. Most light pollution comes from streetlights. If we reduced light pollution, we could easily see the Milky Way.

[Ptarmigan]

Yep. Whenever there's a power failure here (which rarely happens nowadays) the Milky Way becomes quite visible. Have you ever looked at it with a pair of binoculars or a telescope? It's breathtaking to see all those stars.

One amazing fact I heard many years ago was that some of the points of light on each side of the Milky Way are not stars like many assume but entire galaxies! When one considers how massive the average galaxy is, that's nothing short of mind-boggling.

I've seen the Milky Way before. Blows you away. No words can even describe that feeling and sight.

[Aslkahuna]

In Australia's Outback where the center of the Milky Way passes close to overhead, it can actually cast a shadow-the sky there is so dark. We can see it well from remote areas here in AZ and NM. I can see from my home in Sierra Vista but not as good as 20 years ago.

Steve

[tropicana]

shortly after the big North-eastern US and Ontario blackout in summer 2003, they urged people and particuraly big businesses in Toronto to save power by turning off non-essential lighting in their buildings, and it worked at that time.
In the years that followed, you would hear random urgings by concerned citizens for the commercial buildings to again turn off non-essential lighting becuase birds were flying into the windows of their towers and being killed, since they would be finding the bodies of many birds on the streets below.

These methods never seem to last, and the city is so light-polluted right now, just like these things never happened, and with new construction all over, the problem will only get worse as the demand for electricity gets more and more.

-justin-

[TexasStooge]

It seems that the proposal to darken the Dallas Skyline didn't get much of a flicker. The Dallas City Council acknowledged that the recent "lights-out" proposal had VERY little support.

Click here to read story.

[Ptarmigan]

It seems that the proposal to darken the Dallas Skyline didn't get much of a flicker. The Dallas City Council acknowledged that the recent "lights-out" proposal had VERY little support.

Click here to read story.

I clicked on the link. More lighting does not reduce crime. In fact, some of the most light polluted cities have some of the highest crime rate in the nation, like Las Vegas. Dallas has one of the highest crime rate in the nation too. Crime is very complex issue, more than we realize. I read in some magazine that a school in Pennsylvania had problem with vandalism and they decided to remove all the lighting and vandalism stopped happening at the school. Criminals are very determined people and they will do anything and nothing will get in the way. Also, many high profile crimes happen in the daytime.

[wxmann_91]

I would advocate this idea. Too bad it couldn't get passed the Council.