There's an apartment in the building behind us where the light is always on. I took the picture above at 3 a.m. this morning, when I got up to get a glass of water. That light is bright, but it doesn't illuminate the whole scene the way it does in the photo -- that's a function of the iPhone's "night photography" feature.
When I turned off night photography, this is what I got:
Not as interesting as a photo, but closer to real life.
Anyway, I think the apartment is vacant. I wish someone would go in and turn off the light. I was a child of the Carter years, when we all talked about energy conservation and were instructed to turn off every light when we left the room. The New York Times says this is no longer necessary, because modern bulbs are so much more efficient than they used to be. (In 1974, the paper said just the opposite -- "It all three million customers in New York City and Westchester County cut off a single 100‐watt bulb that might burn six hours a day, the savings would be 1.5 million barrels of oil a year, 10 days' supply." Apparently incandescent bulbs really were incredibly wasteful, with most of the energy expended as heat rather than light.)
Today is just a half-day with students. Parent-teacher conferences begin in the afternoon and run for the next two days, which means Dave will be busy meeting with lots of parents online (which he's going to do from home), but I don't have much to do during this time since far fewer people will be in the school building itself. I suppose I can neaten shelves.
It is extraordinary how well phone cameras can take night time photography.
ReplyDeleteYes, leaving lights on was always a no no from my childhood. While it matters less now, I think it still matters. While halogen bulbs were more efficient than incandescent, they were still quite wasteful. Modern LED lighting is just brilliant.
Perhaps you could line all the books up by size, like my bookshelves.
There is a house at the back of us that has an upstairs light on all night. I came across the householder when passing and was cheeky enough to ask why.......they have small daughters and it is a landing light left on in case they need the toilet in the night!!
ReplyDeleteI can sympathize with you. I live about a half mile from a 2-year college with a soccer field that they keep illuminated 24/7. In winter when there are no leaves, it illuminates the interior of our house on that side of the house. It was that way for years until I happen to befriend the president of the board and dropped a bug in his ear. It went off at night for maybe a year after that before it started being left on again. It was on for another year and now I am in a period of it being off again.
ReplyDeleteI was also brought up during the same time frame where we turned out lights when they weren't in use. That muscle memory is still with me to this day.
I too belong to the 'turn lights off' generation, but when the first wave of low energy bulbs came out they were compact fluorescent, and took a while to build up to full brightness (unlike the LEDs). Then, we used to leave lights on because otherwise they just weren't bright enough at switch on to be of any use.
ReplyDeleteI know that most Americans keep guns in their homes so why not aim your rifle at the offending light bulb and shoot it out? All modern light bulbs use electricity - maybe not as much as old school bulbs - but still enough to warrant turning lights off when you do not need them on. "The New York Times" was wrong.
ReplyDeleteI hope no one comes up with busy work for you. That light would eat at me. Just because.
ReplyDeleteOur students had a half day yesterday with parent-teacher conferences in the afternoon. It always surprises me how aligned your school's schedule is with ours. (I know it's an American school, but still..)
ReplyDeleteThe light would bother me but I'm not sure what could be done...aside from Neil's suggestion!!
I turn off lights at every opportunity. It's the way I was brought up.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a potentially good day at work, assuming the supervisor doesn't come up with something else! (I'm that generation too.)
ReplyDeleteI do not like unneeded lights shining at night. I don't even like the dim light of an alarm clock and am happy to have replaced that with my phone.
ReplyDeleteWait. There's a "night photography" function on the iPhone? How did I not know this?