Why do some people just "have" to have the lights on?
Asked by
Kraigmo (
9055
)
July 24th, 2018
I realize at night, you need lights to see.
But what about in the daytime?
99% of offices and homes in America are still lit enough to see in during the day, even when no lights are on at all. There’s enough ambient light splintering through the blinds, and coming from computer monitors.
It’s 100 degrees in many parts of America right now.
LED and Fluorescent lights not only take energy away from the A/C in communities that cycle their electricity during peaks… but LED’s and Fluorescent bulbs add about 5 degrees of heat to a room, if they’re all on, and left on.
So…. on hot 100 degree summer days, why do so many office workers and others “just have” to have the lights on?
(I realize there’s some exceptions… cooks… and drafters…. for instance… need bright light. I’m not talking about them, where the light is integral to the job).
But why does an office worker need overhead lights in the summer? Why add that 5 degrees of heat?
It’s so easy to work with the lights off. But a lot of people get scared or something. Why?
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5 Answers
Part of it might be to stay awake. Low lighting can make you sleepy.
Sometimes the lighting is doing nothing, because outside light is so bright, but in big office buildings that’s rare. Only the offices close to the exterior windows would have enough. If the angle of the sun is severe it might make it hot in the office or house also, plus glare might make it hard to see a computer screen.
A lot of offices I worked in people had light switches for offices and could flip the lights off when they weren’t in the office. Bathrooms had motion detectors for the lights. When I was working at one company they made a policy that everyone should shut down their computer every night to save electricity and dollars.
Most places in the US are cold more months than very hot. The hot places can easily switch to solar power since there is an abundance of sun in those places, but solar has been cost prohibitive. From what I understand the prices are coming down. I’ve always wondered if solar was way overpriced. Are solar manufacturers making a fortune? Would they possibly make more from volume if their price was lower? Does the government subsidy keep prices high?
Conservatives prefer things done in the dark and just to spite them, laws were passed during the Obama administration, orchestrated by then SecOState Hillary, mandating that lights be left on in order to help liberals observe conservatives scurrying across the floor and disappearing back into the cracks under the baseboards.
TBH, I hate lights at home, but at work I need them. I work in a very fast-paced, detailed job and lights off is not condusive to me being hyper alert, so even though I hate them and especially flourescents, I have them on. @JLeslie is right in my case.
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