Latest issue of Total Lighting out now - October 2011

Oct. 11, 2011 - PRLog -- Visit Total Lighting Magazine at http://www.tlmagazine.co.uk

An historic moment

It’s been a while coming, but The Lighting Industry Federation and The Lighting Association have made the decision to merge. The new name for the combined association will be The Lighting Industry Association.
Where the two operations were once quite separate, it’s surely a sign of changing times that this move has been suggested, let alone voted in by the members of both bodies.
It takes an awful lot of courage as well as vision to drive changes such as this from the current methods, particularly with two such established trade associations. The people responsible for setting the ball rolling in order to achieve what must have been quite a difficult decision for some members, are in my opinion to be congratulated, particularly Elstead Lighting’s Jonathan Lucas and Rune Marki of Osram. Gentlemen, take a bow.

We’re about to become a victim of local government cuts again (we’ve already had the saga of the bus disappearing in a puff of exhaust smoke, the kids’ play equipment being removed as there’s no cash for its future upkeep and the closure of the local recycling centre – don’t even get me started on that one!). Our village is the proud possessor of two street lamps (I’ve double-checked just to be sure), and due to lack of funds, they’re going to be switched off.
While I’m not planning to march on County Hall in protest, I am slightly peeved as one of the two lights is outside my house, and provides a handy ‘don’t trip over the dog / fall down the stairs’ glow if you’re prone to wandering in the wee small hours.

In all truth, I’m not sure how much difference two street lights are going to make to the national deficit – or even the local one – but I assume this is a decision that’s been taken across the entire authority, and whether the local inhabitants feel they need the lights or not, they’re going off.
It may be nothing more than a small inconvenience for a sleepy hamlet like ours, but it made me wonder what will happen to larger, busy villages and small towns, where street lighting not only protects those who have to be abroad at night, but makes driving safer too.

It seems a terrible shame that the UK’s local authorities haven’t got to grips with energy saving alternatives to the off switch. There are so many options available as proved by the Mexican municipality of Othón Blanco, who’s decision to switch to LEDS is saving almost 30 million watts a year (In the dark, p24). It does make me wonder why a small town in Latin America can see the positives – and is willing to do something about it – while we effectively return to the blackout of 1940’s Britain in an attempt to balance the books.

It’s a small hope, but perhaps if we all lobby our local authorities, they may start to look at alternative methods of energy – and money savings. It may even do the planet a favour too.


Gill Anderson - editor

http://www.tlmagazine.co.uk

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