Re: Czech Lighting costs

[Jan Hollan <jhollan@amper....muni.cz>]

On Mon, 10 Jun 2002, Don Hoyt Gorman wrote:

> Are there estimates of how much the implementation of the new light law on
> Czech Republic will cost?

Dear Mr. Gorman,

Bob Gent wrote it very well. Generally the costs are or can be zero. 

Of course, devoted municipalities can proceed more offensively when they
realize the benefits of quality lighting, and I believe ever more of them
will do that in the next years. We suppose to start with adaptation of the
existing luminaires is some very small pilot areas around observatories or
in national parks, using low-cost measures. In many cases, the wattage
will be reduced and so the adaptation would be cost-effective, as a bonus
to bringing an immediate improvement of the night environment. Schemes of
reducing the input power in the late hours will be introduced as well, or
some areas simply switched-off altogether after a curfew, when nobody
needs the light.
 
> What is the likelihood that other countries will adopt this type of measure?

In the most educated, environment-conscious societies where common rules
of proper behaviour are respected by everybody, a law could be obsolete,
as soon as everybody realizes how the lighting should be used: just when
really needed and then very carefully targeted.

I'm afraid that hardly any country is of that character nowadays as a
whole. Then a legal base is needed to stop the disastrous degradation of
the night environment. All parliaments will surely decide to start a
process of its restoration, as soon as they will realize the problem:
there could be hardly any dispute, the solutions are so simple and
beneficial in all aspects.

> For an introduction to SEED, see our web site, below.

Thank you. As it is not online, I can hardly judge on the character of the
magazine. (I hope it does not advocate The Sceptical Environmentalist by
another arguments than author's freedom or as an opportunity for
scientists and teachers to practice their ability to explain clearly even
those problems which are mostly misunderstood by superficial ``experts''
-- ``creationism science'' is another opportunity like that. Both are not
very useful nor interesting, but perhaps inevitable... I'm happy that
quality lighting is so much simpler.)
 
> Regards,
>  
> Don Hoyt Gorman, Editorial Assistant
> 
> SEED Magazine
> 206 rue de l'Hôpital
> Montréal, Québec 
> H2Y 1V8, Canada
> t. 514.271.8652 f. 514.271.3743
> 
> http://www.seedmagazine.com