sensored, timed and on call... lights!

I was inspired by the flowers I'd added to my pulling the February Giveaway Winner out of my bright pink beret, that I drew the green light bulb above. Whatcha think? Okay, perhaps I should leave the art to Designerjots ;)

By now you may have guessed, today's post is brought to you by light bulbs! How's this for an innovative idea, a light bulb with a built in sensor? As dvice points out "there are plenty of motion-sensing outdoor light, but about inside your home?" Hallways for example do not need to be let all the time.
"The Smarthome Screw-in Motion Sensing Light Adapter, as the name applies, screws into a typical bulb socket — no screwdrivers required. Turn on the light switch and the bulb will turn on only when it detects motion, then shuts off automatically when there's no movement within a 16-foot range. The length of time it stays on is adjustable from 5 to 100 seconds. It retails for $25, but who knows how much you'll save in energy costs?" Available at Amazon.

Also on dvice, I came across another cool light-related feature, this time regarding lighting whole street blocks... On call! That's right "on call." Cities are no exception to the need to save on green (cash variety) and so it's no surprise that "towns all over the work have started turning off their street lighting to save money."

However what about safety, or as dvice points out "when Grandma's pooch needs to go walkies at 2 AM?" Well a few German towns have come up with an on call solution... literally, called Dial4Light. Local residents can call up to selectively light up street by street. After 15 minutes a times reverts the street back into darkness. Thus far, participating towns have benefited from a 25 percent savings in their street lighting bills. For a more complete article check out Treehugger.

These two brilliant energy, pun intended ;) ideas got me thinking about my recent year in France. Whenever I visited an apartment building (large or small), and small office buildings, all light switches in hallways and stairwells were on a timer. I found this to be one of those obvious clever ideas, one I am surprised not to see this put into more practice in North America.

Well that's it for now. Clearly my absence last week has left me with lots to say 0;) Again, my apologies, here's hoping you're still reading... Please leave me a comment to relieve my fears *wink, wink, nudge, nudge.*

xo,
ej