In article <pgf.736398920@srl03.cacs.usl.edu> pgf@srl03.cacs.usl.edu (Phil G. Fraering) writes:
>
>>That's fine idea, but it only works if the lighting/power company even bothers to supply good light fixtures. For instance, a power company in Virginia
>>recently asked a state commission for permission to sell more lights of various
>>type. Yet, all of the different fixture that they sold and wanted to sell
>
>Uh, why do they have to ask a state commision? Unless the state's buying...
>
It seems that in this part of the country -- Maryland and VA -- power
companies have to ask permission to sell outdoor lighting. This, apparently,
is the result of small electrical contractors lobbying to keep the power
companies from taking all their business.
>Such a process will only increace the overhead to the power company
>of selling different types of light, and will decreace the likleihood
>that they will do so. And any efficient lights they might have been
>planning in the future, go down the drain.....
As stated above, it most likely already does. Is it too much to ask the
companies to at least offer good lighting?
>You could order it special. If enough people did so, it would be
>low cost. Last I checked, you could use UPS to buy stuff in Arizona
>before going there.
Sure can. It's one way to do get a good light. But, it's expensive.
>
>Finally, I'm sure your state has things like small factories and
>machine shops. You could go into business making lights that are
It's amazing how the industrial base of the US has changed. Small
machine shops are pretty hard to find and very expensive. But, the
primary point is that good lights already exist. Currently, they are
mostly only sold in the West -- because they have lighting laws there.
>> There are two ways to achieve this: educate the public so that they demand good lighting or force code
>>down the lighting companies backs. History seems to suggest that the latter
>>is more likely to work.
>
>_MY_ *experience* seems to suggest that you're trying too hard
>to *educate* them (with the same methods used in American schools
>to make any subject whatsoever as relevant and boring as Proto-Ugric)
>instead of *selling* them on the idea.
Actually, it's extremely effective to walk into a city manager's office
and explain to them how they can save thousands, if not millions, of
dollars.
>Well, wake up. Space is becoming a field of human endeavor
>instead of just something we can look at from a long long
>way away.
Gee, at the rate the space program is going... What, last
week there was an article on the front page of the Washington
Post about how the Shuttles are too expensive, old, no replacement
is in sight, Fred is all dead...
Don't get me wrong. My wife thought I was crazy to get up
at 1:30 am to watch a shuttle launch (from Maryland) the
other week. I think things like LPS are great and are really
humkind'ss future.
>There are practical space projects that could conceivably
>(although probably not) cause lots of light pollution, and
>have been argued against on those grounds, even though they
>might open up such possibilities, that people could vacation on
>Mars if they wanted really dark skies...
Gee, and I complain now about the two hour trip to northern VA to
find so-so skies.
>Phil Fraering |"Seems like every day we find out all sorts of stuff.
>pgf@srl02.cacs.usl.edu|Like how the ancient Mayans had televison." Repo Man
Bob Bunge
rbunge@access.digex.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 03 May 93 11:26:12 EDT
From: Robert Coe <bob@1776.COM>
Subject: Vandalizing the sky.
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space
pgf@srl03.cacs.usl.edu (Phil G. Fraering) writes:
> rbunge@access.digex.net (Robert Bunge) writes:
>
> >That's fine idea, but it only works if the lighting/power company even
> >bothers to supply good light fixtures. For instance, a power company in
> >Virginia recently asked a state commission for permission to sell more
> >lights of various type. Yet, all of the different fixture that they sold
> >and wanted to sell
>
> Uh, why do they have to ask a state commision? Unless the state's buying...
>
> >were bad designs - one that wasted the light. Thus, you couldn't even buy
> >a good light from them. In most places, to get a good light, you have to
> >either order it special at high cost or call a store in Arizona.
In Massachusetts the power companies are encouraged to sell energy-efficient
light bulbs and fixtures to their customers at low prices. They lose money
on this, but are allowed to recoup it in their rates. The effect is to pun-
ish those who don't buy the energy-efficient lights. (Of course it also
punishes those who have energy-efficient lights but bought them at higher
