SCOTTISH COUNCILS will spend more than £3 million to light up the country in festive cheer this year.

Figures obtained by the Sunday Herald show that the budgets for Christmas lights and switch-on celebrations across Scotland came to more than £3,300,000.

Glasgow City Council was the biggest spender, paying out £280,000 for festive lighting across the city and footing a bill of more than £1m over the past five years. The George Square Christmas lights cost £40,000 alone this year.

A spokesperson said: "The nativity scene, lights, trees and fireworks signify the beginning of the winter season and bring benefits for business and tourism as well as adding to the colour of the city."

But Friends of the Earth Scotland's chief executive, Duncan McLaren, criticised Glasgow's "energy-guzzling".

He said: "Christmas has sadly become associated with waste and excess and the excessive use of energy-guzzling light decorations is just such a phenomenon.

"We still want people to have fun, so every council that spends money on Christmas lights should have to pledge to invest the same amount of new money on schemes that will cut overall energy use in their area."

 

These are the figures for just Scotland, the bill for the rest of the UK must be at least 10 times that. At a time when Government are asking all of us to save energy, how does this fit into their plans, do as I say not as I do.

 

Meh, when you put it that way it seems outlandish. But just looking at sum totals isn't always the best way to look at issues... for instance, if you added up the amount people waste throwing away excess holiday food you'd probably find it's like a million turkeys and 10 million pounds of potatoes or something. So are you going to stop people from buying food?

 

Anyway I usually take the conservationist side but if the lights are lovely, don't shut them all off just because of one single figure. Turn some of them off, or limit their hours of order. Or better yet, we can go after the real issues: the amount individuals waste with lights in unoccupied rooms, idling vehicles, computers, unnecesary electric devices, inefficient factories and power plants. Add up sums (monetary and kilowatt) wasted in those situations and I'm sure the figures will make £3.3 mill look like pocket change.

Edited November 26, 200618 yr by Consie

Frankly I dont thing there is any need whatsoever for the Christmas Lights to be on for the best part of two months... Limit it to from Mid-December to the beginning of January, and I think you'll find that the costs would be slashed... There are only supposed to be "12 Days of Christmas", taking in New Year/Hogmany celebrations as well, after all....

Or better yet, we can go after the real issues: the amount individuals waste with lights in unoccupied rooms, idling vehicles, computers, unnecesary electric devices, inefficient factories and power plants. Add up sums (monetary and kilowatt) wasted in those situations and I'm sure the figures will make £3.3 mill look like pocket change.

 

Well put, I mean, I find it utterly ridiculous that office buildings are all lit-up 24/7 when there's no sod apart from the security guards actually there, and surely to god they could switch a light on and off when they do their rounds, there's no need for the lights to be on constantly in every sodding office when the office staff have all gone home....

 

I agree ... there are bigger wastes of power.

 

Limit lights etc to December

 

..and make large companies / offices more responsible

 

they could take a leaf out of the CIS building in Manchester

 

They have a whole wall of solar panel..... providing most of power for what was Manchester's tallest building

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2004/20041109_cis.jpg

 

yes all those blue bits are solar panels

Edited November 27, 200618 yr by ICR

Well put, I mean, I find it utterly ridiculous that office buildings are all lit-up 24/7 when there's no sod apart from the security guards actually there, and surely to god they could switch a light on and off when they do their rounds, there's no need for the lights to be on constantly in every sodding office when the office staff have all gone home....

 

Absolutely, the office buildings here remain totally lit all night long and for what?? Even worse, in the skyscrapers, sometimes whole blocks of floors leave the lights on all night which means it isn't carelessness by employees but some kind of company policy.

 

You brits are far better at conservation but we all have a lot to learn from mainland Europe. French hallways and bathrooms remain pitch black and the lights are on 30 second timers. Germans go to public waste-baskets and sort out their trash piece by piece to ensure its all in the proper recycle bin. It's remarkable and admirable.