Last night, the city of Boston proved it’s no longer afraid of the dark. As thousands of office lights were switched off through Mayor Thomas Menino’s Lights Out Boston program, the city’s ecological impact diminished along with its fading skyline. An aggressive follow-through on Menino’s climate agenda, actually shines a light on electrical and environmental conservation.
Since mayor Menino’s 2007 commitment to a greener city, few other civic programs have seen as much attention. From promoting urban bicycling and hybrid taxis, to planting trees and preserving open space, the tangible changes around the city in the name of the environment are praiseworthy. Lights Out Boston is an unprecedented commitment to civic power conservation. Its duration alone — at least two months of darkened high-rises at night — surely tops Sydney’s “Earth Hour,” in which the darkened cityscape lasted only an hour.
Bostonians will reap the real benefits of Lights Out Boston through its message — that people can make an impact by simply flipping a switch. If people take that message to heart, the initiative will be truly effective.
None of BU’s buildings are participating in Lights Out Boston, but the university stands to gain a great deal from similar efforts on campus. Every night, hundreds of lights remain turned on in BU’s academic and administrative buildings. Only the newest buildings on campus are outfitted with automatic lights-off motion sensors, leaving the majority of the buildings’ lights to be determined by the last person to leave the room.
The current status on campus is not only wasteful — it is unnecessary. Classroom lighting is among the simplest problems the university could address. A strict lights-off policy for all vacant classrooms and offices will surely save electricity, but, more importantly, the university will save on operational costs. If the city can challenge itself to become a world leader on climate change, there is no reason the university cannot choose to be equally great.
The Lights Out Boston initiative also encourages individuals as well as large corporations to pull the plug on wasteful lights. Students at BU can make a big difference in the university’s environmental impact. Making sure dorm room lights are off during the day and when no one is home can, collectively, do even more than cutting down administrative power use.
But before students take their own initiative on campus, the university must show some leadership on the issue. Pulling the plug on electrical waste in academic and administrative facilities is a good start. Here’s an opportunity for the university to singlehandedly save money and look more eco-friendly without asking anything of its students. And these days, isn’t saving a little green what it’s all about?