Envision Lighting Design, LLC
  • Home
  • About
  • Projects
  • BLOG
  • Learn

40% of Detroit's Street Lights Don't Work

7/22/2013

2 Comments

 
When the announcement about the City of Detroit bankruptcy hit the news last week, one of the main points about how tough things had become in the city was that nearly half of the city's street lights don't work. Naturally, this caught my attention! How long has it been this way? Why? Are there sections of the city that have been deliberately switched off, or are they just eliminating lighting maintenance, leaving lights out all over town as they fail? Is this actually a bad thing? Or have they found that the lights were unnecessary and that living without them is fine?

Here's what I learned:
Detroit is deliberately reducing its street lighting load. It is not, however, the only city turning off lights to save money! Other municipalities who have opted to save energy and money by reducing street lighting include Colorado Springs, CO, Santa Rosa, CA, Rockford, IL, and Upper Dublin Township in Montgomery County, PA to name just a few.

Not everyone thinks turning off the street lights is a bad idea. In fact, there are some who say that turning off street lights is plain old fashioned smart. Consider the positions of the International Dark Sky Association or the 2008 National Geographic article, Our Vanishing Night.


Even though academic research shows no significant evidence to link street lighting with reduced crime, the general public seems to associate street lighting with safety. There is also no doubt that lighting can improve pedestrian and bicyclist visibility and can reduce automobile crashes in accident-prone areas. 

I wonder if there is a better solution? Perhaps better car headlights? Or streetlights that come on only when people are present? How can we use technology to save people and the planet, too?
2 Comments

    RSS Feed

    Author:

    Lisa J. Reed, lighting designer and Principal at Envision Lighting Design, LLC

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Archives:

    February 2022
    January 2022
    February 2021
    January 2021
    August 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    September 2019
    August 2019
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    November 2016
    January 2016
    October 2015
    March 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

    Categories:

    All
    Book Review
    Business
    Calendar
    Certification
    Color Rendering
    Color Temperature
    Core Competencies
    Dark Sky
    Daylight
    Dimming
    Earth Day
    Encounter
    Energy
    Engage
    Enjoy
    Enlighten
    Envision
    Fluorescent
    Green
    Halogen
    Holiday Light
    Ies
    Incandescent
    Installation
    Internship
    Landscape Lighting
    Led
    Light And Health
    Lightfair
    Lighting
    Lighting At Home
    Lighting Basics
    Lighting Certification
    Lighting Controls
    Lighting Credential
    Lighting Design
    Maintenance
    Museum Lighting
    News
    Office Lighting
    Outdoor Lighting
    Recycling
    Restaurant Lighting
    Street Lighting
    T12 Phase Out
    Wbe
    Woman Owned Business

Contact

​​WBE: State of Missouri, City of St. Louis, and State of Illinois
WBENC and WOSB Certified
Privacy policy | Cookie policy
© copyright 2020, Envision Lighting Design, LLC
Photos used under Creative Commons from Uncleweed, geezaweezer, napalmz, WDanRoberts, joshme17, Vasenka, Ricardo Ricote Rodríguez, Gamma Man, weisserstier, SoulRider.222, loop_oh, Benson Kua, Gopal Venkatesan
  • Home
  • About
  • Projects
  • BLOG
  • Learn