Communal Lighting Should Be Automated And Forget Heating

The hallways in my block of flats are so bright at night you could do a Vogue photo shoot in them. On every floor, there are loads of incandescent bulbs burning away, and there aren't even any switches to turn them off.

This is a classic case of wasted electricity that there's no excuse for. Why didn't the builders fit motion sensors to turn the lights on only when they are needed? Because energy is far too cheap, and there is no incentive for the owners of the building.

There are probably hundreds of thousands of communal building in the UK lighting their hallways all through the night. Each building is likely to have hundreds of bulbs, just imagine all the energy we could save if the lights were automated to turn on when someone walked in.

The government could pass a law to say all buildings of this type must fit lighting motion sensors. I imagine the cost to the owners would be recouped in energy bills within a few months. It would also provide a lot of jobs for electricians and manufacturers - new work would be welcome at the moment.

In addition to being well lit, my hallway is also heated! It's so hot in there I feel like I'm in the tropics. Surely this in one area we could do without heating. I mean, if we are all going to sink under rising sea levels, I would hate to look at my grandchildren and say 'At least we had warm hallways'. So Mr Brown, could you ban all hallway heating please?

The more I listen to the government talk about their plans to reduce emissions, the more I feel they are grasping at straws. They seem to place all their eggs in the new technology basket. What I haven't seen, is some big plans to look at what we are doing at the moment.

These are a couple of my ideas to save the earth, without getting to grips with hydrogen fuel cells, or living in massive discomfort. I'm sure there must be lots more...

Published - Thu 29th Oct 2009 11:30:12