[jeffnolan]

HVAC, appliances, and “other” are the major drivers for electricity consumption in commercial and residential customer bases. In industry, 50% of the power is consumed by machinery.

I wonder if the decrease in lighting (driven by LEDs) is offset by the increase in electronics in commercial and residential sites.

[oldcynic]

My perspective just from being around a good while is savings from LED lighting have been more than offset by excessive gratuitous use of lighting. Dramatically so.

No one can build anything at all, even a few paving slabs, without adding "lighting as a feature". Often with colour or brightness cycling effects. This is usually broken a couple of years later.

Once businesses turned lights off outside business hours and left a little security lighting. Now everyone lights up the window, sign, and usually car-park, to daylight levels. Even solicitors, and doctor's surgeries. Larger franchises especially annoy by adding a 30' pole with a sign on top. With illumination more suited to anti-aircraft searchlights. It's become an arms race.

As a kid, street lights were turned off late at night. I think 2 in 3, but it's a distant memory now. I lived in a major city as a child.

[gascan]

I'm with you. I'm amazed how quickly the concept of "My business has to have a presence at night" has become some kind of non-negotiable rule. Exactly how much business is driven by 3AM drivebys? But, the costs of all that lighting is suddenly a lot lower than it was before.

The switch to better streetlights is good, but the sea of commercial lighting seems like an unaddressed issue.

I miss the darkness.

[oldcynic]

Better streetlights are OK to a point. Endlessly upgrading lighting such as has happened here seems pointless. I miss the stars. I don't even live in a major city any more.

I don't need major road level lighting if one of a tiny number walking at 3am. I don't mind some gloom between lights. I don't mind in the car either when there's few around. I have lights on the car. If I feel unsafe at 3am, chances are I will with or without floodlighting and get a cab anyway.

Sure illuminate the city centre around where clubs and restaurants are kicking out, or during winter rush hour, but the rest seems light for the sake of light.

[rsynnott]

Commercial and domestic electronics are also getting a lot less expensive to run, though. An office full of computers uses far less power to run the computers these days than 20 years ago. Of course, it also takes much less power to light it, and likely also to heat and cool it (there've been substantial improvements in HVAC).