Reducing CO2 emissions... (warning, may contain nuts)

[5potnoodle]

Whether you are sceptical or not about man-made global warming, the government are on course for making sure the tax payer pays for excessive usage. It's unlikely to be any different under a new political regime after the general election so we're up a creak.... but...

If the government is really serious about reducing CO2 emissions, why not turn off some of the flippin' lights that illuminate great swathes of the motorways in... er... the countryside. What are they there for? So that the badgers can see their way across the road? The last time I looked, cars had headlights fitted to them as standard equipment. If the road safety argument is to be spouted then I can only say that the further you can see ahead increases the confidence in driving at higher speeds. Think about it... if you can't see as well because your headlights only have a limited range, self preservation will kick in and speed will drop.

If the reason for lighting a motorway is to reduce accident risk, then surely it's better to remove one or two idiots from the gene pool than run the risk of removing a rather large chunk of civilisation from it due to the extra CO2 those lights have contributed? (That is if you believe that it's man-made, otherwise if you're a sceptic, it's in order to reduce costs and energy resources... either way we win)

If you've ever flown at night from the UK to mainland Europe, you'll have noticed the difference in road lighting strategies. It is truly astounding.

The next time you're driving down a road in the country at night, just consider whether you feel those lights are actually necessary.

Discuss...

[Coxy]

totally agree on the lighting. I get on the motorway which is 1 minute from my house and go down it to work, after 1 mile of it, there are no lights, and it is soo much easier to see. Never really seen the point of them to be honest.
Would have been useful in the 1960's when we were running around on cars running 6v systems, but nowadays, they just seem pointless!
And you get to see the stars far better as well!

[missfire]

The next time you're driving down a road in the country at night, just consider whether you feel those lights are actually necessary.

i agree that there are glaring 'issues' in the way in which we address CO2 etc...

but i live in the countryside....and there are no street lights anywhere!

i live near the 'Euro-Route' which links Europe to Ireland (linking ferry terminals by road) and it is not lit either....

mabee the areas you are talking about are green belts....not countryside?

[5potnoodle]

Originally Posted by missfire

i agree that there are glaring 'issues' in the way in which we address CO2 etc...

but i live in the countryside....and there are no street lights anywhere!

i live near the 'Euro-Route' which links Europe to Ireland (linking ferry terminals by road) and it is not lit either....

mabee the areas you are talking about are green belts....not countryside?

I live in rural Lincolnshire which has some of the darkest skies in England but even then there are "glaring" examples of stupid road lighting... the A16 has a stretch between Louth and Grimsby which just doesn't have any need for lighting at all, no footpaths and only one minor road turn in a 2 mile stretch.

In my original post I referred specifically to motorways in rural areas (not green belts... but then again, why would it be necessary on a motorway without footpaths in a green belt?) such as the M1 north of Nottingham. I notice that you live in Scotland so have probably not experienced to such a degree the amount of unnecessary illumination I refer to. Come down here at night time but bring your shades

[amanda]

Originally Posted by 5potnoodle

Whether you are sceptical or not about man-made global warming, the government are on course for making sure the tax payer pays for excessive usage.

Tis a tax plain and simple and as for any serious attemptent to reduce the c02 level it won't be as it will be an excuse to tax you more and more

[5potnoodle]

Originally Posted by amanda

Tis a tax plain and simple and as for any serious attemptent to reduce the c02 level it won't be as it will be an excuse to tax you more and more

My point entirely which is why I think the governments should lead by example. Why should we be expected to pay when there are examples of energy waste such as motorway lighting that we have no control over?

[missfire]

Come down here at night time but bring your shades

i know... i know...

where i live just won a 'dark skies' award for star gazing..

one of few in the world.. so i understand..

but a friend from New Zealand put it to me best...when he lived here...

''your countrys F$%KED!!''........

when it comes down to it there are just too many people in Britain... from the air in daylight it looks like just one farm rolling into the next ....

but he was right.. there are too many of us... demanding too many services and too much convenience..

i fear for the future.... my generation is the one tasked with clearing up the mess that that the last generation has left for us..

but not enough people care..

[missfire]

here is something that i had shown to 'pimpdriver'

it might help someone 'keep a classic on the road'/'avoid huge tax bills'/'save the world'..

http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi/cis-e.htm

[poopcoupe]

Please read this. Just sums up that nowbody knows what is really going on. Yes we do have an effect on our planet.... but climate change would happen without humans even being here!

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...irclimate.html

[missfire]

a final thought before i crash out..

an old friend of mine, whom is no longer here spent the end of his working life in a position called 'health physics'........mopping up radioactive oil spills in heysham 1 power station.... among other tasks..

he used to say that because it 'caused so much disruption' (cost the power company too much money) to shut down a reactor..that 'spare' power at night was dumped into things like lighting and heating things like public buildings etc.

as our 'carers' (government) have firmly chosen the glow in the dark route to ''clean'' energy (substituting dependency on overseas energy sources for the health and lives of our own people) i would imagine that there will be a lot more un-necessary lighting and things of that nature going on in the future.......... at night.

in other countries they are smarter.. they do things like use this 'spare' power at night to pump water up-hill... then in the morning (when demand increases) they let it run back down again..through hydro stations..

but there just isn’t enough of that kind of common sense in this country..

this was a problem that he had with wind turbines, although i love them,...if the wind blows at night...what do you do with the excess??

he used to say ''nuclear energy.......safe as houses....''

i wish he had been right.....