Now, here’s an idea I like. From Metropolis:
Responding to the competition’s theme of “energy”, the San Francisco-based firm Civil Twilight - Anton Willis, Kate Lydon, and Christina Seely-were awarded $10,000 for their project, Lunar Resonant Street Lamps. This re-engineered light has an ultra sensitive photo-cell that responds to the brightness of the night sky, turning on and dimming as needed, cutting down both on unnecessary light pollution and energy consumption. The trio installed a prototype in the Herman Miller showroom and people at last night’s event could dim and brighten the lamp by waving their hands over the sensor.
As a very amateur stargazer, I hate wasting light outside at night. My wife and I have even argued about how bright the moon has to be for her to not turn on the light when we sit outside with the dog at night.
The idea of streetlights that don’t operate.or don’t burn as brightly, when the moon is providing some level of illumination is just too cool!
Presumably the system would also reduce lighting waste on those cloudy winter nights when it’s brighter outside from the effect of ambient lighting reflecting off both the snow and the cloud-cover.