How To Accelerate The Destruction of Planet Earth and Set a Fine Example To Boot

14 day burners behind City Hall? 
Nope, not a problem!

Though it is difficult to tell due to all the bright sunlight yesterday, every operable light bulb in the City Hall Municipal Parking Lot was on when I took this picture yesterday at 3:30 pm.  There are 17 lamps in the lot -- big, old-school, noisy, energy-sucking bulbs --  and 3 of them are not working. 14 bulbs were on under a nearly cloudless, beautiful blue sky with about two hours of sunlight remaining in the day.

Imagine if everyone were so wasteful

Today at 11 am, under another blue sky, all 14 of those lamps were burning brightly, quite possibly STILL ON since yesterday afternoon.      

6 or 7 years ago at a DPW Committee meeting (oh, how I miss them so!), I asked our DPW Superintendent, Robert W. Perry, Jr., why the lamps in the City Hall lot were on regularly during the daytime, both on cloudy and clear days.  He told me and the committee members that there was nothing he could do about the lights and that it was a good thing the lights were illuminating the lot on cloudy days, that it made the lot safer.  My time was up, and no one objected to what Mr. Perry had to say.

Such a fine example for all!

Additionally, I found out later that the City of Hudson pays National Grid, via a contract, a flat fee for the electricity used for the lights found in our parking lots, parks, and along our sidewalks.  In terms of the cost to the city, it doesn't matter how long or how often or how many of the lights in the City Hall lot remain on --  National Grid will not charge us one additional penny to burn all the lights in the lot 24/7.  We are not penalized for being wasteful.  So, it appears to be perfectly fine with Mr. Perry to not figure out what is wrong with the sensor or the timer for the lights in the lot behind City Hall, because there is no savings or benefit to the city or for the planet for doing so.  There is no problem, there is nothing wrong with burning outdoor bulbs in the daytime, DPW is not being wasteful, and so no solution is necessary. 

However, if a street light is out at night or on all day and night (known as a day burner), anyone can notify National Grid of the issue and they will eventually fix THE PROBLEM.  National Grid wants you to notify them, and they make it fairly easy for anyone to do so, either on the phone or through their website.  But National Grid is not responsible for the lights in our parking lots -- only DPW is responsible for them.  Anyone can call Robert Perry, Jr., at 518-828-9458, and attempt to let him know that the lights in the City Hall lot are on during the day.  But since he likely still feels that this is NOT A PROBLEM, don't expect anything to change, or for him to see the problem for what it is.  It seems that there is nothing that Mr. Perry can or wants to do about the wasteful lights, even 6 years later. 

I believe that a few years ago Hudson officially became a CLIMATE SMART COMMUNITY, whatever the heck that means.

The poster city for
CLIMATE SMARTNESS!