Is it possible that we're wasting WATER while we sleep?

[cherokeeprogressive]

Last Saturday night I gave a friend a ride home from a resort called Snow Summit, right outside of Los Angeles. Well, maybe not RIGHT outside of L.A., but close enough so that most people would laugh if I said I lived an hour and a half away, and had FOUR FEET of snow in my yard. But I digress.

We drove down Big Bear Boulevard at close to midnight. The Blvd was so brightly lit that if you'd never been to Las Vegas, you'd think you were there. Businesses that had been closed since 4, 5, 6, and 7 p.m. ALL had their lights on. Inside and out. I was struck by the fact that the city could turn it's street lights off, and the boulevard would be so brightly lit by the closed businesses that you could drive down the street with your headlights off.

Do we really need to light outside signs for businesses when they're closed?

I understand that we built dams on major rivers for the purpose of generating electricity. Here we are now, lighting neon signs and parking lot lights for businesses that are at the moment CLOSED.

How much water could be used as reservoirs for drinking/irrigation if we turned the lights off at night?

[billyoc]

1. I don't think you lose the water by running it through a turbine.

[CreekDog]

2. but it gets released from the dam

it has to go somewhere to generate energy, and that somewhere is downstream.

[billyoc]

4. Can't you drink it downstream?

:shrug:

[ConcernedCanuk]

3. Many systems pump water up to reservoirs both for hydro and drinking

.
.
.

So if there is a demand for hydro that the river/dam cannot meet, then they run it back down from reservoirs

at any rate

the overuse of lighting at night should be addressed

businesses that leave their lights on for security concerns could easily install lights that respond to motion or body heat

street lights that go on well before dark and stay on in the morning past sunrise could be monitored also

we DO waste too much electricity for lights - much of it comes from hydro(water) electricity

[KharmaTrain]

5. Homer Simpson Runs Our Lights...

Many companies leave their lights on for security reasons. This is especially the case now in tough times. Bright lights keep vandals and looters away as well as make it easier for their security cameras to work. The cost of the electricity is the price of doing business, but it's better than showing up the next day and finding the business ransacked...and yes, those things can and will happen as times get worse.

Here. we use our water for drinking...we get "cheap nuclear power" :shiver: ...but we also pay some of the highest rates in the country.

BTW...if your power is a turbine system, no water is diverted from drinking or irrigation to generate that power. Now if you were getting your power from a coal plant then I would see how there would be a benefit from turning off lights.