Comments on: Boone Says: Turn Off the Lights!

By: Aaron Allen [Air'n Al'ln]

Aaron Allen [Air'n Al'ln] — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:55:56 +0000

Much unnecessary lighting can be minimized or eliminated. Here’s a few:
1. Divide the roof of overhead canopies at gas stations into equal squares of clear skylites
and yellow sodium or other energy saving light [checkerboard pattern]…Turn lites OFF dur-
ing day; use energy-saving lites ONLY at night…
2. Get rid of bright-white lighting in parking lots and at auto dealerships–they aren’t driving
ranges! Use yellow sodium of other low-consuming lamps only when open for business–
leave a few security lamps on rest of nite if necessary…
3. Turn OFF all illuminated business signs when not open to customers…
4. Remove ALL upward-shining lighting which obscures ‘dark sky’…
5. Install solar-lighting domes to illuminate kitchens, dark hallways, interior bathrooms, all
other places in homes, shops, offices where overhead lighting is left on needlessly…
6. Plug in small nightlights in kitchen, bathrooms, hallways to guide residents around with-
out having to switch on bright lamps, ceiling lights just to find one’s way at night…
7. Replace all traditional timeclocks that control lighting with ‘astronomical’ type which vary
on/off cycles with yearly length of daylight–on earlier and longer during winter; on later and
shorter during summer…
8. Use infrared-sensing fixtures on outdoor security/safety floodlamps and door/porch lites..
Aaron Allen…

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:11:38 +0000

One of my favorite quites about traditional incandescent light bulbs is “fairly efficient heaters that happen to give off some light”. The best analogy I can think of is going into your kitchen at night and turning on your electric stove top burners to see by, granted an incandescent is marginally more efficient but not by much. While turning off the lights is important it’s far more important to replace incandescent bulbs with more efficient lighting options like compact fluorescents (which use 10% of the power of a traditional bulb) or LED bulbs (which use 1% of the power of a traditional bulb). While they are more expensive in the short term the amount of energy they save far outweighs their cost. With an LED bulb you could leave the lights on 24/7 and STILL use less energy than turning the lights off when you leave the room.

By: Grigg

Grigg — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:20:48 +0000

Let’s face it…we are fairly powerless in influencing our “representivies”. All they care about is getting re elected and assurance their golden future…there are no more patriots…what happened to out John Adams? My suggestion is to vote them ALL out by NEVER voting for an incumbent. This will get their attention!

If we ALL voted for their challengers it would send a powerful message and show them that WE are their bosses. We certainly can’t make things worse!

Do any of you have a better idea? I’d sure like to know it!

Grigg

By: Craig Stanford

Craig Stanford — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:47:15 +0000

Along the lines of what T. Boone is saying, I have story from personal experience. I live in Oregon, which is heavily dependent on hydroelectric power. In 1973 we had a drought. It looked like there wouldn’t be enough water for power generation so the governor declared that there could be no outside lighting at night for businesses.

The street lights were still on and emergency room lights were still on, but all the business signs were off. It was kind of weird at first, but after awhile everyone got used to it. Since all business signs were off, no business had an unfair advantage.

The only losers were the power companies who said that their revenues were down so much that they would have to file for a rate increase the next year; which they did!

Imagine how much oil would be saved if such a policy were implemented on a national basis plus we turned out the lights when we left the room.

By: Shawn Kelley

Shawn Kelley — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:32 +0000

I already did my part by installing a solar system at my home, works great and it’s free. I leave my lights on as much as I want now. I did this after my electric bill jumped 45% this year and is going up even higher by January 2010. I plan on upgrading the 12 volt system to a 48 volt so I can run my refrigerator and some larger appliances. Do you think that the reason why T.Boone is using his light for the interview in daylight is that his home has wind and solar power and it is free energy? I think his point was that energy is on the rise and is costing family’s more money out of pocket to light there homes and that by conserving is one way to reduce the cost for those who do not have solar or wind systems to light and heat there homes.

By: James C Orr

James C Orr — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:36:38 +0000

It is possible to save electricity by doing some simple things such as turning off lights and re- setting the thermostat when you leave the house or office.

By: Michael Patrick ONeill

Michael Patrick ONeill — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:52:01 +0000

For Petes sake T Boone probably was running those lights off his wind power. Ever think he might need some light to read or do business…. The guys trying to educate us and save us from the bad guys and theres plenty of them out there in DC perhaps….. burning the the midnight oil trying to figure out ways to screw the common people in this country…. I say go T Boone your the best thing thats came around since Oat Meal……. Go T Boone

By: bob heiple

bob heiple — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:51:14 +0000

The writer missed the point about turning off the lights. The point is that prices will go up and up.

By: Harwood Hopkins

Harwood Hopkins — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:32:31 +0000

Harwood Hopkins Says:

October 14th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Electric Energy should have the lights OFF, to save the energy. The lights should be only used with less that needed! I’m with Boone and the congress should know that!

By: Harwood Hopkins

Harwood Hopkins — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:30:25 +0000

Electric Energy should have the lights OFF, to save the energy. The lights should be only used with less that needed! I’m with Me Boone and the congress should know that!