One for Sven: Why Belgium really shines from space at night.

Post #421,729 by a6l6e6x 12/14/17 4:59:36 PM 12/14/17 4:59:56 PM Reply	One for Sven: Why Belgium really shines from space at night. NY Times: Belgium’s Lavish Energy Use Sheds Light on More Than Just Its Roads BRUSSELS — When an astronaut took nighttime pictures of Europe from the International Space Station this year, one nation stood out far below on the twinkling surface of the earth: Belgium. It is the only country in Europe to keep nearly all of its 2.2 million streetlights on through the night, making it a world leader in light pollution, and easily identifiable even from space. The phenomenon has been a source of ridicule and humor in Belgium for decades. But since the images were published in May, some have also begun to ask a simple but tough question: Why? Well, it's a milder form of corruption! Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov Edited by a6l6e6x Dec. 14, 2017, 04:59:56 PM EST Expand All History
Post #421,730 by a6l6e6x 12/14/17 5:02:19 PM 12/14/17 5:02:19 PM Reply	And the LRPD sayeth: "Powered by a Shining Ingot of Ineptium! " Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #421,740 by Andrew Grygus 12/14/17 9:58:47 PM 12/14/17 9:58:47 PM Reply	Here in Los Angeles . . . . . rules are to keep light sources under hoods to minimize skylight. this is to help the observatories stay in action. I used to go up to Mount Wilson and sneak through a broken fence into the observatory grounds. From one spot I could see what I calculated to be 1000 square miles of city lights.
Post #421,754 by scoenye 12/15/17 5:05:20 PM 12/15/17 5:05:20 PM Reply	It is an addiction Excluding municipal lighting, they tried cutting back once by turning off the road lights at 2AM (or thereabout). The result was a spike in traffic crashes during the unlit hours so the experiment was canceled. It seems they do shut some off again between midnight and 6AM since 2011. The problem is mostly confined to Flanders. South of Brussels, things are more rural. One of the issues is that they want to keep the on/off ramps and other dangerous areas lit, yet at the same time, the policy excludes sections of less than 2 miles from being shut off to avoid "strobe fatigue". Population distribution being what it is, that means half the roads remain lit. Once used to "all lit, all the time", it is surprisingly hard to break the habit. Doing 65 in darkness definitely fell into the "WTF" category once I started spending more time in the US. I can't see anyone in the current crop of politicos having the spine to stand up to the popular revolt sure to ensue if they were to shut more lights off.

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