Turning out the lights

Wiltshire County Council is planning some new lighting schemes which they claim will save up to 50% on energy use in summer. The saving is obtained by turning the lights in housing estates off in the middle of the night when nobody’s about. This, apparently, requires a high-tech system with central control.

Does nobody in local government remember the low-tech option? komadori can remember timer-controlled lighting, replaced in the late 1970s, which went off at 1 am and came back on at 5 am. No central control room, no expensive electronics, same effect. Such is ‘progress’.