France To Turn It Off!
The French government has confirmed that as of July 1st 2013, it will force shops and commercial properties to switch off their lights at night in a bid to save electricity and cut light pollution.
The new law, introduced by France’s minister for ecology, sustainable development and energy, Delphine Batho, will apply to interior lighting that spills to the outside of the building, such as store fronts, and the external lighting of building facades. However, the new law will not include lighting installed to protect the property, provided that these lights are controlled by motion or intrusion detection sensors.
It is estimated that this law will save around 2 TWh/year of electricity. That is equivalent to the electricity consumption of around 750,000 households!
We at Cowpower think this is an excellent idea. While the new law does make exceptions for holidays and Christmas electricity illuminations, and certain tourist attractions (what would the Eiffel Tower look like without electricity!), we think that encouraging businesses to turn-off lights in the early hours of the morning to save electricity when they aren’t necessary is a great way to reduce our energy consumption.
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