this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
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Solarpunk Urbanism

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A community to discuss solarpunk and other new and alternative urbanisms that seek to break away from our currently ecologically destructive urbanisms.

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[–] blazera@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

why they talking about wasting light like its a finite resource?

[–] itchick2014@midwest.social 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wasted light in this context is light that is not serving a purpose. For instance in my neighborhood there is a house that has security lights that shine well beyond their property lines and are triggered on sensor from across the street movement. These lights also illuminate upwards which provides no benefit. Simply controlling where light shines if you must have it is a good step to being a good neighbor and is better for nature as well.

[–] blazera@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

unwanted light might be a better description

[–] itchick2014@midwest.social 7 points 1 year ago

Oh I agree. Just was trying to provide how I interpreted the article.

[–] schmorpel 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But it IS a finite resource. To produce light, you need energy. Even if you use renewables, you can only cover so much area of the planet with solar panels and wind generators. In a world run on electricity that is produced by limited means, we should consider where we want to use each kWh ('bag of electricity'). Do you really want to render that image? Have that status light on all day? It's small things, but they do add up.

[–] blazera@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Youre underestimating either how much electricity we can generate, or how efficient lights are nowadays. Way more energy is going into heating applications.

[–] schmorpel 2 points 1 year ago

So just because more harm is done with heating we shouldn't care about this waste? Small differences also make a difference, especially if the wasted light does more harm than good. If your roof leaks in two places you don't just go a fix the bigger leak.