Street Lights

The Age: "Local tests of the low-energy lights, which are already used in parts of NSW and South Australia, have shown they consume about a third of the energy for the same output as the current 80-watt mercury vapour lamps."

I am really surprised we haven't dealt with this one. The lights became noticeably dimmer on the streets to the extent they are of no help in terms of seeing street names and turn offs. We used to have a habit in Australia of leaving our front porch light on. It was a neighbourhood friendly thing to do and then we stopped doing it. The cost and we became more insular and then house break ins were a worry so people installed flood lights. The street lights are costing money and carbon. Lower energy globes would save us money and carbon...but I should have thought solar lights would be the way to go. They are used in quite a few buildings and, to me, unless someone can point out why, they seem to be a logical choice for street lights in Australia. This is something we can fix and relatively easily....and maybe we should get the porch lights going again too for safety's sake and friendliness. We need to make people connections again.